Discovery
by EmisonOverEveryone
Summary: Emily and Alison are two best friends who discover they share a bond much deeper than just a friendship. Fetus Pretty Little Liars.
1. Chapter 1

"Ew, loser Mona is following us again," the fifteen year old queen bee stated, rolling her ocean-like blue globes at the small brunette who was walking towards her and her posse. "Ali, be nice," Aria Montgomery commented, "she's a really sweet person. I sit beside her in world history."

Alison DiLaurentis turned her head to Aria, "do you want to be a loser, too?" the blonde snapped. A small frown fell on Aria's lips as she shook her head and stayed quiet. "I didn't think so," Alison replied, "now let's go before she catches back up with us."

Alison turned on her heel and started walking towards the glass doors to leave Nordstrom. Spencer Hastings gave Aria a small arm squeeze before following Alison, with Hanna Marin following shortly behind of Spencer.

Aria released a disappointed sigh. Sure, she loved Alison but sometimes the blonde could be so cruel and heartless. It was funny actually. Alison wasn't the nicest girl in the world, in fact she was extremely intimating and rude, but she had a way about her that made you crave her acceptance. One second she had the power to make you feel special and the next you were wondering if she ever even looked at you at all.

Emily Fields grabbed Aria's hand from behind of the shorter brunette, pulling her away from her thoughts. "It's okay," Emily's soft voice started, "I like Mona, too. I sat beside her in earth science for a week before we were assigned seats. She is really sweet."

Emily's smile was warm and bright and it was so weird how a girl like Emily Fields could be friends with a girl like Alison DiLaurentis.

Aria returned a smile to Emily before they followed their three friends out of the luxury store and into the mall halls again.

"There's a party tonight," Alison smirked, "we all should totally go." Spencer groaned, "We can't tonight, Ali. We have lacrosse practice in the morning, remember? We're running five miles just to start practice. Ian is going to kill us."

"Oh, whatever. All you would have to do is bat those brown eyes at him and he'd—,"

"Alison," Spencer warned, cutting off the blonde before she could continue her statement. Emily, Hanna and Aria glanced between each other confused.

The girls were used to this. Someone would say something, Alison would respond back with some type of comment, and someone would cut Alison off before she could say too much in front of the other girls.

"Whatever, who cares anyway? We're the best two on the team even though we're sophomores. We're going to rock varsity," Alison confidently replied. "Five miles is a lot to run, we only run one in swimming," Emily commented, thinking out loud.

"That's because you're not a land sport, Em. I'm sure you swim way more than five miles. Swimming is so much harder than lacrosse," Spencer replied. "I wish I played a sport, but I'm not good at them," Hanna said, her eyes absentmindedly roaming inside the display windows of store they passed.

"Well then you've got to stop eating three bags of Lay's Sour Cream and Onion chips a day and get your ass off the couch," Alison chuckled. A silence swept across of the group. "Oh come on, I'm kidding," Alison offered, turning to loop her arm with Hanna's, "but seriously you could definitely be great at sports if you tried, Han. It just might take a bit more work than others."

Emily's eyes found Aria's again as they shared another look of disappointment, thinking the same thing. Why were they so close with someone who could be so cold?

"You know, I don't like sports either Han. That's why we make the best fans. Every athlete needs fans, or without them they are nothing," Aria ended with a underlying serious tone in her voice, eyeing Alison. The blonde caught Aria's hidden message and her lips turned into upward smile, deciding to play along, "she's right. Fans are very important. Every star needs them to remind them how great they are."

Spencer and Emily weren't naive to not catch the double meaning of the conversation between Alison and Aria. Emily looped her arm with Aria's as they walked behind of Alison, Hanna, and Spencer. The taller brunette gave the shorter brunette another warming smile as they shuffled into Coach to look at the fall collection of purses.

Hanna and Aria took off on one side of the store featuring hand bags while Alison and Spencer spilt to the other side of the store to look at pocketbooks. Emily strayed alone walking by tables of items and looking at the lit up display cabinets of designer handbags.

Shopping wasn't really Emily's thing, especially not in stores like this. Emily didn't really carry around pocketbooks. The most she carried on her was her phone and a bit of cash her parents gave her to spend out with friends.

The swimmer was a laid back teenager, she wasn't like the rest of her friends. Alison and Hanna were into high-end fashion. They loved fashion shows, magazines.. anything and everything fashionable that you could imagine. Spencer was born into luxury clothes as the Hastings family only wore the top appropriate designer outfits approved by country club residents. Aria was into fashion, but more of hipster, edgy style than Alison and Hanna's high end tastes.

Emily was just simple. She was the Plain Jane of the group. She had more of a chilled, athletic look going on. If she wasn't in jeans, Vans, and a flannel, she was in her Rosewood High School swim team athletic apparel and Nikes.

"Em?"

The tan girl looked up to find Alison looking back at her. Emily offered a gentle welcoming smile in response. "See anything you like?" Alison asked, already knowing what Emily's response would be. "No, not really. I mean, the purses, they're nice, but I don't really want them."

Alison picked up a deep red purse from the table and held it up to Emily, "you would look so awesome with this on your shoulder." There was a slight twinkle in Alison's eyes as she reached out to hand Emily the purse. The brunette took the bag from Alison. Though Emily could easily say no to the purse, she couldn't say no to Alison.

Emily slipped the purse down her arm and laid it on her shoulder. Alison stepped closer to adjust the length of the strap. Emily's breath nearly hitched at how close Alison's face was to hers.

Emily didn't understand why she all of a sudden felt nervous. Her hands started sweating and she felt her cheeks burning. What was going on? The brunette didn't dare to shift her eyes to look down at Alison, she was way too close. It would have been too awkward.. too weird.

Alison stepped back and smiled up at Emily, "see? Awesome." Alison put her hands on each of Emily's shoulder and turned the brunette to face a mirror on the wall. "Red is definitely your color," Alison smiled.

Emily looked at Alison in the mirror, she didn't even look at the bag. She didn't care about the bag, if Alison said that it looked good on her, she decided to believe her. Alison wouldn't lie to her, right? A smile wiped across of Emily's lips as Alison was looking back at her in the mirror.

Emily could only wish to be as beautiful as Alison. The blonde was so unbelievably flawless. Alison was always so well put together. If perfection had a definition, Emily was sure Alison DiLaurentis would be it. Alison never had pimples, or messy hair. Her eyes were always bright and she didn't even need braces growing up. Unlike most of the girls in their grade, Alison didn't have an ugly middle school or early high school stage. She was always so physically flawless to Emily.

Emily felt a wave of content flush through her body. When Alison was alone with her she always seemed to feel this way. Emily always felt at ease and so…okay. Like she didn't have a worry in the world. Alison was the only person who could make her feel so _happy_.

"Ali," Hanna's voice called out, breaking Emily and Alison from their gaze in the mirror. Alison dropped her hands from Emily's shoulder and turned around to face Hanna, leaving Emily to already miss her friend's touch.

"Come check out this bag I found. It would look so great with your nude Louis Vuitton heels." Without looking back, Alison left Emily alone again, holding the dark red Coach purse on her shoulder.

Emily watched with a frown as the two blondes walked away her, leaving her to feel a different kind of disappoint with Alison that she didn't quite understand.

#####

After their after school mall trip, the five girls walked back to Spencer's house to hang out before dinner and the home football game tonight. It was the first Rosewood High School home football game of the year, opening the boy's season.

"You know who's the kicker for the football team?" Alison asked to no one in particular, her entire body laid long ways on Spencer's couch with Emily on the other side, laying the same way. "Isn't it Noel Kahn?" Aria asked a bit too quickly. Alison smiled, "yep. You should talk to him after the game tonight, Aria. I heard from Jackson that he has a crush on you."

"No way, really?" Aria yelped. Spencer and Hanna laughed at Aria's excitement. Aria has had the biggest crush on Noel ever since the fifth grade when he picked up her green crayon one day in art class. Aria saw it as a marriage proposal.

"That's the word," Alison calmly replied, "and he's mega-rich. His parents own like half of Pennsylvania." Aria shrugged with a grin, her hazel eyes big and round, "I don't care how rich he is, he could be dirt poor and I think I'd still love him."

"You know what else I heard?" Alison questioned again. The room was silent as the girls waited for an answer, "Sean is a starting receiver." Now it was Hanna's turn to shine with desire, "Sean?! I can't wait to see him play. I bet he's so good."

"Wait, I thought Sean played soccer?" Spencer questioned, "it's soccer season." Alison tossed her blonde curls over her shoulder, "yeah, apparently his soccer coach is letting him do both because Sean could really help out the football team since he's so fast and in shape."

Hanna's smile widened, "he's so perfect." Alison playfully rolled her eyes as Hanna started on a roll about how dreamy her blonde athlete was. Alison's eyes fell on Emily as she zoned out of Hanna's rant.

Alison softly nudged Emily's leg with her foot. The brunette cut her eyes from Hanna and faced Alison, giving the blonde the smile Alison knew she would get. "And who's going to be there for you to drool over?" Alison asked more quietly, only to where she and Emily could hear.

Emily raised and dropped her shoulders in a quick shrug, "I don't know. I don't like anyone." Alison leaned forward on the couch, her blonde curls swinging, "everyone likes someone."

Alison's eyes were playful and light. Her dimples in her cheeks were starting to pop as her childlike smirk wiped on her lips. Emily couldn't help but to smile back in return. Alison's smile was just that stunning.

"We can find you someone," Alison continued when she realized that Emily had nothing to offer up. "What do you like? Tall? Muscular? Athlete? Nerd? I can totally see you with an athlete since you're like the top swimmer in the state. You have to date someone as great as you," Alison said.

Emily brought her hands to her lap and started picking at her nails, "I don't know. I-I don't really know any guy I would even think about dating." Alison titled her head as if she was studying Emily, "well what are you attracted to?"

Emily could feel her cheeks burning all over again and her nervousness coming back. She knew it was probably stupid to get so worked up over such a simple question, but the truth was she didn't know anything about what she did like. She had never really been attracted to any guy she knew. All the guys she liked were celebrities. She had the biggest crush on Zac Efron in High School Musical, and she loved Dylan and Cole Sprouse on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.. she even had a thing for Uncle Jessie on Full House. But when it came down to normal guys in Rosewood, she never had a crush on any of them.

"Em, it's okay," Alison stated, clearly noticing how flustered Emily was getting. "It's okay to not know what you're attracted to. It's actually fun. You get to experiment and see. It's almost like shopping."

Emily laughed at comparing people to shopping items, "shopping?" Alison leaned back against the couch, "mhm. You get to look at people and if you don't like what you see, you just keep walking and go on to the next choice."

"Wait, did someone say shopping?" Hanna cut in, stopping her on-going speech about Sean. "We're going to shop a man for Emily," Alison replied, her smirk reappearing on her face. Emily's smile fell off of her lips as worry shot through her body. Things just went from a funny idea to reality before she could blink.

"Ooo, Em's looking for a boy toy," Spencer joked. Emily shook her head, "Ali's kidding. We're not really looking me a, uh, guy."

"Why not?!" Hanna jumped, "it would be so fun! Emily on the prowl. Single and ready to mingle." Alison and Spencer laughed as Emily tried to force a smile. How bad could it really be anyway? Her friends all had guys that they had crushes on. It was normal for girls to like guys. To want a boyfriend. That's all Emily wanted, was to be normal with her friends. And she _did_ get to pick the guy she wanted. It's like Alison said, she didn't have to be with someone she didn't like.

Emily looked back at Alison. The way the blonde was smiling alone made Emily want to please her. "Okay," Emily surrendered, "I guess I'll just at least look."

Hanna squealed in excitement and rushed Emily to hug her. The brunette's eyes stayed locked on Alison's as Hanna threw Emily a million and one questions about guys of all ages at Rosewood High School.

#####

"Touchdown, Sharks!" the announcer shouted into the microphone. The crowd roared in cheers as the Rosewood High Sharks took the lead 14-3.

"We're so good this year!" Spencer beamed, "definitely going to state!" Emily took another bite of her hotdog as she watched the Sharks line up for a field goal attempt. "There's your man, Aria," Hanna giggled. The tiny brunette clapped as Noel took his position to kick the field goal, "go Noel!"

Emily looked into the crowd of the bleachers. Alison had left the group just after the second quarter started to go get a soda. She hadn't gotten back yet and there was only two minutes to go until halftime. "Does anyone know where Ali is?" Emily asked, looking to her right at her friends.

Spencer shook her head and Hanna shrugged. Aria was too busy watching her fifth grade husband kick, and hit, his field goal. The girls cheered as Emily stood up. "Where are you going?" Spencer asked, looking up at Emily.

"I'm going to the bathroom to beat the halftime crowd," Emily lied. Spencer nodded and focused back to the game as Emily made her way through the sitting fans and to the aisle. As the brunette walked down the steps she scanned the stadium for Alison. Emily had always been more protective over Alison than any of the other girls.

Emily should have known better though, Alison had a tendency to always disappear and come back as if nothing happened. The first couple of times that Alison did it the girls would ask questions, but after Alison would never tell them, they stopped. Alison could be secretive sometimes and Emily didn't like it.

Emily got to the bottom of the stairs and starting walking to search for the blonde. She had to be here somewhere. She couldn't have left unless she walked, they all only had their permits.

Emily twisted and turned through pools of people, avoiding kids with pizza slices and other students from her school walking in groups. She had no idea where Alison could have gone, but she was so curious she couldn't help but to find out.

Emily's phone buzzed in her back pocket. The brunette reached back to pull it out and read her incoming text. _I left my wallet in my mom's SUV and my mom has a spare key right under the back of the car attached by a magnet. Can you use it to get my wallet while you're already out, please?!_

Emily sighed. She was on a mission to find Alison, not Spencer's wallet. But the brunette couldn't say no to her genius friend. She was already out in the crowd, so it wouldn't hurt anything. Maybe she would see Alison on the way anyway.

Emily walked out of the high school stadium and into the parking lot. Thankfully Spencer's mom didn't park too far from the gate. Spencer's parents were on the athletic booster club for Rosewood High, so they got VIP parking to all athletic events.

Emily found Mrs. Hasting's Escalade and made her way through the parking lot. As she got closer, she noticed a figure moving inside the back seat of the car. There was just enough light from the lightening pole a few feet away to cast a dim light against the dark windows of the SUV.

Emily took a small step closer to the car and noticed one figure pull away from another one. There were two. Someone was sitting on someone's lap in the back seat of Mrs. Hasting's car, and she was pretty sure she remembered Mr. and Mrs. Hasting's sitting behind herself and the girls in the bleachers just moments ago.

Emily hide behind a truck as she leaned closer to get a better look at the figure. She couldn't make out who it was, she could only see their outline. She could definitely tell it was two though, and they appeared to be _very_ close.

Emily's mind went from innocent to completely dirty in all of two seconds.. what if they were having… _oh God._

Emily watched as the top figure leaned back into the bottom figure, both of the shadows now touching again. Emily's cheeks started to itch with a burn. She couldn't catch two people having sex. How _embarrassing_ and awkward is that?!

Emily turned away when she heard a door open and the brunette couldn't help but to look back. She nearly gasped out loud when she saw who exited the car. Alison hopped out of the SUV, straightening out her tank top as Ian Thomas climbed out behind of her, smirking.

The swimmer watched with large eyes as Ian grabbed Alison's arm and pulled her back once more before shutting the door. He brought his lips to hers and used his other hand to slide it down her lower back, almost gripping her ass.

Emily's emotions shot in thirty different ways. She was infuriated. _What_ the hell was Alison doing?! Ian was her _coach_ and Spencer's older sister's _boyfriend_. Emily was so mad that tears swelled in her dark eyes as she watched Alison lean into him and kiss him back, placing her hands on his broad chest.

Emily's stomach flipped. She couldn't watch anymore. She tore her eyes away from Alison and Ian and stormed back off to the football game. She didn't care if she didn't return with Spencer's wallet. She didn't care about anything at all anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

Emily sat frustrated on the far right of her friends as far away from Alison as she could. Aria, Hanna and Spencer were between her and Alison but she wanted to be farther. Emily was still livid at what she saw over an hour ago. The image of Alison kissing Ian replayed in her mind throughout the entire third and fourth quarter of the football game. She couldn't concrete on anything else no matter how hard she tried.

There were only three minutes left in the game and Emily couldn't wait to leave and have her mom pick her up from Spencer's house. The brunette had planned on spending the night just as all the other girls had, but all she wanted to do now was go home.

She was _so_ upset with Alison. Why hadn't Alison told her about Ian? Did Alison not realize that her relation with him was _illegal_?! It was disgusting. Ian was at least six years older than Alison. He had just graduated college last year and Alison was just a sophomore in high school. The dirtbag wasn't single either. And to top it all off, Ian was Alison's coach!

Emily fumed over all of the wrongs. Maybe she was overreacting, but she was hurt. Emily thought she could have been blowing this out of proportion, but each time she thought about Alison sitting on Ian's lap rush of tears scrambled to her eyes and her stomach turned. She didn't understand just why she was so upset, but her emotions were on high about the situation.

Emily didn't even watch the rest of the game as the Sharks pulled out the win. Her eyes were looking at the field but her mind was still in the parking lot. Before she knew it the game was over and she and the girls were walking back to Mrs. Hasting's SUV.

"I wish I could talk to Sean and tell him how well he did tonight!" Hanna beamed. Alison threw her arm around Hanna's shoulder, "you can, Han, tonight at the party." Hanna grinned at Alison, "he's going to be there?"

Alison nodded, "everyone who is anyone is going to be there."

"We have practice, Ali," Spencer reminded the blonde. Alison tossed a smirk at Spencer, "I bet practice will be canceled tomorrow."

Spencer's nose scrunched, "I don't think so. All Ian has talked about to Melissa is how excited he is to begin pre-season. Why would he cancel it?" Alison retracted her arm out of around Hanna and shrugged, "I just bet he does."

Emily's jaw tightened at the mention of Ian. The swimmer had a feeling why he canceled practice. Probably because Alison had just spent thirty minutes sucking his face off and batting her blonde eye lashes at him. Alison had the power to make you do anything with just a smile. But it pure disgusted Emily to think of what Alison did to get her way this time.

Spencer raised an eyebrow at Alison as she opened her mouth to speak, but shut it once Alison continued. "So are you going or not?" Alison questioned before Spencer could slip anything else in, putting smile on her face but the kindness didn't reach her eyes.

Spencer looked as if she was to argue, but when Aria grabbed onto her arm and wished back to back to back "pretty please's" the youngest Hasting couldn't bring herself to say no. "Yeah, I guess I'm down."

A pleased smile fell on Alison's lips and Emily rolled her eyes. Now that all of the others had committed to going, it would be harder for her to reject the invitation. Alison flashed her eyes to the taller tan girl as the group exited the stadium.

Alison had noticed that Emily had been awfully quiet and distant all throughout the second half of the football game. Emily was usually the quiet one of the group, but she wasn't ever distant. Especially not from Alison.

The blonde made her way beside of Emily and softly nudged the brunette. "Hey," Alison offered with a smile, beginning small talk. Emily looked at Alison but didn't reply. She didn't even give Alison her usual greeting warm smile.

After Alison realized Emily wasn't going to reply verbally, she took the look of acknowledgment as enough to continue, "are you down for going out tonight? It's going to be a great time. It's the first party of the year."

Emily kept her eyes forward, refusing to look at Alison, "I'm sure it'll be great." Alison studied Emily's face as the two walked. She saw signs of discomfort written all over the tanned girl's features. Emily wouldn't even look at her or crack a smile.

"Maybe we'll find you a Mr. Right tonight," Alison tried joking, playfully poking the brunette. Emily still didn't break a smile even after physical contact. It surprised Alison. She wasn't used to this kind of behavior from Emily. The brunette always smiled at Alison, but at the moment Alison couldn't even get Emily to make eye contact with her.

Emily didn't respond again, making Alison's eye brows furrow. "What's wrong?" the blonde finally asked, keeping her gaze upon Emily. "Nothing," the brunette simply answered. Alison grabbed Emily's arm and stopped walking, falling back from their friends and Spencer's parents.

"Emily, what's the matter?" Alison questioned again, definitely not believing Emily's faulty answer at all. Typically Alison's touch would make Emily melt with content, but not now. It felt like it burned. The brunette finally brought her eyes to Alison's as she slipped a frustrated sign, "it's nothing, Alison. Can you stop asking me, please?"

Alison let go of Emily's arm, crossing her arms with her own frustrated sigh, "fine, whatever. Just don't be a downer at the party tonight. Negatively is contagious and I plan on having a good time," the blonde barked.

Alison didn't like being stern with Emily. She had no problem with making snarky remarks to anyone else, but doing it to Emily just didn't settle well with her. Maybe it was because Emily was so sweet and it was like abusing a puppy, but Alison hated being anything other than soft with her. But in this moment the blonde was so frustrated that she had to. She just didn't understand what was going on, and Alison always had to be in the know.

Alison brushed by Emily to catch back up to their friends. The brunette was Alison's sweet Emily. She was always a ray of sunshine in Alison's world. Emily was someone Alison had always secretly depended on. If everything seemed to be falling apart, Emily had a way of calming Alison down and making her feel better. But now the swimmer was acting strange and Alison didn't know how to deal with it. She didn't like this closed up, stubborn Emily at all.

Emily followed Alison back to their friends as she approached Mrs. Hasting's car. The last place that Emily wanted to sit was where Alison and Ian had just been making out and doing God knows what else. The girls filed into the car, Emily avoiding the row where she saw the two lovers and opting to sit in the farthest row in the back.

Of course, it just so happened to be that Spencer, Aria, and Hanna sat in the middle row, leaving Alison to sit with Emily in the far back row. The brunette almost rolled her eyes at the annoyance pulsing through her body. This would happen. Any other time Emily would have loved to be alone in the back with Alison, but not tonight. Not right now.

Alison strapped her seatbelt on and brought her crystal blue eyes to Emily's eyes. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong with you? I'm only asking again this one last time," Alison practically whispered to the girl sitting beside of her. She didn't want the others to turn around and jump in the conversation. Alison knew she had a better chance of getting the truth out of Emily if it was just her knowing.

Emily turned her head to Alison. Her annoyance and frustration way past the point of keeping bottled up emotions now. "I saw you with Ian," Emily admitted, her brown chocolate eyes darker than usual. Alison's mouth parted in shock as panic whipped through her eyes.

"Y-you what?" Alison questioned in disbelief. She was so sure that no one knew about them. Ian was Alison's secret that she told no one. If someone had seen her, that could have meant that someone else did too.

Emily kept her eyes firm into Alison's, "I saw you getting out of this car with Ian. I know you were kissing him." The words came out like poison on Emily's tongue. Saying it outlaid was almost just as bad as thinking it.

"It's not what it looked like, Em. We were—,"

"You were kissing him. I saw it," Emily cut in, refusing to allow Alison to try to lie her way out of the truth of what Emily saw with her own eyes. Alison broke her eye contact with Emily and looked down to her lap. She didn't know what to do. She just had to make sure Emily didn't tell anyone. Alison trusted Emily the most out of the group, but she didn't want Emily to slip up and tell any of the others. This was a secret that didn't need to get out. There would be serious consequences if it did.

Alison reached her hand out to Emily's hand, "please keep this between us." The blonde looked up at Emily with pleading eyes, "it's not what it looks like. I can explain later." Emily shook her head and pulled her hand away from Alison's, "don't worry about it. I don't need to hear any details."

Alison frowned and nodded, "okay, just please don't tell anyone, Em. Please." Emily didn't respond. She didn't have to. She wasn't going to tell anyone. Not because of Alison, well not _all_ because of Alison, but because it made her physically sick to say the words out loud. Ian was a pig. A cheating, illegal pig.

Alison leaned back in her seat and looked out of the window to calm her nerves. Not having Emily under her complete control scared her, but she felt like she could still rely on the brunette to not spill her secret. Emily was too kindhearted and loyal for that.

The blonde felt more and more at ease the closer they all got to Spencer's house. By the time the car pulled into Spencer's driveway, Alison decided to wash out her nervousness and focus only on the party for the night. She was teenage royal at Rosewood High School as only a sophomore. She had to make sure she was more than perfect for tonight's event. And that started with a clean mental slate.

#####

"Hanna, just go up and talk to him!" Aria pushed. Hanna's eyes grew wide with nervousness, "I-I can't. He's too gorgeous. He'll never like a girl like me." Spencer wrapped her arm around Hanna's waist, "you are perfect. If he doesn't like you, you don't deserve a guy like him."

Hanna shook her head, "I don't think I can." Alison took a sip out of her red solo cup and put it down on a table, "geez, Hanna. C'mon. I'll go with you. You either need to make a move or stop stalking him." Alison grabbed Hanna's hand, "I'll go with you. We're doing this now or never."

Hanna looked at Alison with worried eyes, "I'm scared he won't like me." Alison started pulling Hanna towards Sean, "well, let's find out."

Emily, Aria, and Spencer watched as Alison pulled Hanna across the room. Sean turned to look at the two girls as they got closer. Sean wasn't even looking at Hanna though, he was looking at Alison. His eyes lit up as Alison smiled at him, her blue eyes shining.

Emily noticed how Sean and the guy he was with looked at Alison. They looked at her like she was gold. Alison had this effect on people. She had everyone in Rosewood in the palm of her hand, and Emily hated it even though she was one of those people. Sometimes it was great because Alison could get the girls invited to older parties, skip lines in the cafeteria, and acceptance into anyone's social circle, but other times Emily hated the way people, guys in particular, just drooled over her.

Alison flipped her blonde curls over her shoulder and laughed at something Sean said. The queen bee put her arm around Hanna and looked back and forth between her and Sean. Sean stuck his hand out to shake Hanna's as Alison drifted to talk to Sean's friend who was also a soccer player. Alison was using her wing woman skills as she left Sean talking to Hanna alone.

"I am so taking a picture of this," Aria grinned, pulling out her phone to snap a picture of Sean talking to Hanna, "she's going to remember this forever." Spencer laughed in agreement, "it'll definitely be her favorite memory ever."

Emily watched as Hanna's smile shined and how Sean looked just as happy to talk to her. That's the feeling that Emily craved and was so curious about. She always wondered what it felt like to have a crush on someone and them actually like you back. To get those butterflies and just be happy. But every time she even looked at a guy, she never felt anything. Not even the slightest bit of feeling. Maybe it was just the guys at Rosewood High, but Emily couldn't have been any less interested in any guy there.

The brunette took a step from her friends to go to the kitchen to pour herself something to drink. She needed to loosen up. Alcohol did that, right? It made you free and uncaring? That's what she needed to be.. carefree and fun. Maybe then she would meet a guy and smile like Hanna did.

Emily made her way through the party and into the kitchen. She grabbed a plastic red cup from a bag and poured herself a drink from the water coolers filled with clear liquid. Emily brought her cup up to her lips and tasted the drink. It was _good_. It tasted like Sprite. Maybe there wasn't any alcohol in the drink at all. Emily gulped down half of the cup and refilled it again before heading back to her friends.

#####

"Emily, are you okay?" Aria asked, her arm looped securely around Emily's waist. The swimmer nodded and smiled, "I'm perfect, Aria. I've never been better. I'm _so good_." Spencer chuckled at Emily's response. The brunette was definitely drunk. Emily had been extra social and louder than usual since she had a drink in her hand.

Hanna was still with Sean, Alison had disappeared again, and Aria, Spencer, and Emily had been talking to people as they came up to them. Emily had been starting conversations left and right with girls in their grade. Spencer had been monitoring Emily's intake, making sure that Emily wouldn't get sick. Emily was like the baby of the group. Even though she was the most protective and the tallest, she was the most sensitive and innocent. But tonight Emily was vibrant and active as the night progressed.

Emily's drunken eyes fell on Alison as the blonde walked back up to the girls. "Where have _you_ been?" Emily blurted, dashes of annoyance laced in her voice. Alison reached forward and took the cup out of Emily's hand. The blonde shot her eyes to Spencer, "what cup is this?"

"Her third," Spencer defensively replied, "I've been watching her while you've been gone, don't worry." Alison sat the cup down on a table behind of her, "she doesn't need to drink anymore. Emily is a lightweight because her body isn't used to alcohol. She's drinking Vodka. If she drinks anymore she'll get sick. She needs to sober up."

" _You_ need to mind your own business and go back to doing whatever, _whoever_ , you were doing," Emily scoffed, reaching behind of Alison to grab her cup back. Alison raised her eyebrows in shock at Emily's demanding tone. Emily never talked like that to anyone, especially Alison. The harshness in Emily's voice was alarming.

"I'm taking her to get water," Alison flatly replied. The blonde gripped Emily's hand with one hand and took Emily's cup away from her again with the other. "You're not my mom, Alison," Emily started, "let me go."

Alison ignored Emily's demand and pulled her away from Spencer and Aria. The blonde dragged Emily through the crowd of people and into the kitchen. Alison dumped out the Sprite/Vodka drink and rinsed the cup out with water in the sink. She poured the cup halfway full and handed it to Emily, "drink."

Alison's eyes were hard on Emily. She was so fed up with Emily for the night. First the stubbornness at the football game, and now this. Emily had never acted this way. The intoxicated brunette took the cup from Alison's hands and dumped the water out in the sink, tossing the cup in the sink after.

Emily shot Alison a cold look, but the truth was that her heart was racing. For some reason she felt tingly and had a desire to reach out and touch the blonde. Maybe for stability because she was drunk, but Emily wanted Alison's arms around of her. Emily wanted to make up with Alison but each time she thought about it, she couldn't help but to think about Ian.

"You're not a drinker," Alison puffed, "why tonight? Did someone pressure you to do this?" Emily shook her head, "I can't drink like everyone else? You drink. Is it not okay for me to do it?" Alison sighed at Emily's belligerent attitude. Everything the blonde would say, Emily would find a way to ague with it.

Alison decided to try a different approach, rather than ordering Emily around. Alison took Emily's hand in hers again and pulled the brunette through the house party. Alison opened a bedroom door to find a couple making out on the bed.

The guy looked up at Alison and smiled realizing who Alison was. When the girl saw the guy smiling at Alison, she slapped him on the cheek and started arguing with him. Alison quickly closed the door and kept walking her and Emily down the hall. The blonde opened another door and found an empty bedroom. It appeared to be a guest room because the room was extremely simple with a made bed as the only furniture.

Alison pulled Emily in the room and shut and locked the door behind of her. "What are you doing, Alison," Emily roughly asked. "We're talking," the blonde replied. Alison switched on the light switch in the room and sat down on the bed.

Emily groaned and released a sigh, "about what? I'm not going to tell anyone your dirty little secret about Ian." Emily brought her eyes down to Alison's to notice the blonde had a calm look on her face. Emily took the chance to take in Alison for the first time all night. She looked so pretty. Like an angel that dropped from heaven almost.

Her dress showed off her tan sun kissed legs and even teased a bit of upper thigh. Emily's drunken brown eyes raked up Alison's legs. How was Alison always so perfect?

"I need you to know that what happened between me and Ian wasn't anything serious, Em," Alison stated, breaking Emily's eyes away from her legs and forcing them back up to Alison's face. "Wh-why did you do it? Did you have—did you—," Emily started, but couldn't finish. She wasn't sure if it was her drunkenness or the tightness in her throat as she tried.

"I didn't have sex with him," Alison said, "this is going to sound really bad, but I only used him so that we could all go out tonight. I just wanted practice canceled. I know it's wrong, I know it's really, really bad, but I really wanted to go out tonight with be with you guys."

Emily tried to take in all of Alison's words and make sense of them, but why would she go to such extreme measures just to avoid one practice? She was in Ian's lap for God's sake, pushing her tongue down his throat.

Emily's stomach felt twisted just thinking about it. Her chest started to feel so empty. She didn't want Alison kissing him. She didn't even want Alison playing on that creep's team. "I don't like you seeing him," Emily accidentally admitted. The brunette didn't mean to make that statement out loud, but with the alcohol pumping through her blood she said the words almost as fast as she thought them.

"I won't see him again," Alison assured Emily, "I know it's not okay." Emily felt a little better hearing Alison tell her she wouldn't see Ian again. But Alison _would_ see Ian again. Ian is one of her best friend's boyfriend and her coach. How could she not see Ian again? Just imaging Ian's eyes gazing Alison made Emily so angry.

"He's a perv, Ali. He should go to jail," Emily spat. Alison stood from the bed, "You can't say anything Emily. He would go to jail if anyone else found out." Emily almost smiled at the idea of Ian being locked up and away from Alison. At least he couldn't put his fifty man hands on her.

"Em, promise me that you won't tell," Alison pleaded, her blue eyes dripping with pity. Emily wanted Ian to go away so badly, but she couldn't bring herself to make Alison upset. Ian going away wasn't worth it if Alison was going to be upset with her. "Promise," Emily said.

The brunette locked her eyes with Alison as the blonde smiled. Alison had _such_ a pretty smile. It was so memorizing and right now it had Emily hypnotized. The blonde reached out and pulled Emily into a hug, wrapping her arms around the brunette's neck.

Emily closed her eyes and brought her arms around Alison's waist. Suddenly the brunette felt happy again. All of the anger and frustration that she had built up from Ian was flushed as Alison was in her arms. Alison brought her lips up to Emily's ear, "I love you, Em."

Emily felt a pull in a funny place as Alison's lips tickled her ear. It was something Emily hadn't felt before. It felt different but it felt _good_. Emily smiled into Alison's blonde strands of hair, "I love you, too."

Alison pulled away from Emily and took her hand again, "now, let's go find your Mr. Right." The smile fell from Emily's lips as Alison turned to open the door. Somehow her happiness took a quick back seat.


	3. Chapter 3

"What about him?" Spencer pointed, her finger leading to a skinny baseball player. "Eric?" Alison scoffed, "no, definitely not. He's a stoner. Your'e not into that, right, Em?" Alison questioned.

Emily was sandwiched between Spencer and Alison as the two girls were scanning the party in front of them. The trio had spent the last fifteen minutes offering guy options to Emily, but the brunette had turned down each one. No one had even slightly caught her interest.

"There's got to be somebody," Spencer sighed in defeat. Alison placed her hand on Emily's lower back and softly rubbed the spot, "she doesn't have to find someone here." Emily looked at Alison with a smile, feeling her fingers rub against her back through her shirt.

"But hopefully she will soon," Alison said, pulling her hand away from Emily's back. The brunette yet again frowned at the loss of Alison's touch. The blonde turned back to the party and spotted a tall tan guy with a big smile. Alison pointed, "what about _him_."

Emily followed Alison's gaze as it landed upon a guy she knew. He swam with her. He was on the swimming team. In fact he was the best in his men's division. "Ben?" Emily asked, eyeing Ben as he laughed with two of his teammates.

"Yeah, Ben Coogan? Isn't that his name?" Alison questioned. Emily nodded, "yeah, that's him. He's on the swim team with me." Alison's lips turned into a upward smirk, "varsity or JV?" Emily watched as been took another sip of his drink, "varsity."

"He's one of the best in the school," Spencer commented, "apparently he's ranked in the state."

"Perfect," Alison replied, "that's what you need. Someone like him. He's a good guy and he's good at swimming. Do we know anything else about him?" Spencer raked her brain for memory, but she couldn't think of anything else. "He hangs out with the guy's swim team, I think, that's all I know."

Alison brought her eyes back to Emily, "so.. what do you think?" Emily kept her gaze on Ben. He was cute she guesses. I mean he definitely wasn't ugly. He was tall, toned, and tan. He had a great smile and he was pretty good at swimming. He was always polite as far as Emily could tell from practices and meets. But Emily didn't know if she wanted to date Ben. She didn't really feel anything when she looked at him. Was she supposed to?

Alison's hand fell on Emily's arm, causing her to drop from her thoughts, "Em?" Emily flashed her eyes to Alison, "I-I don't know. He's okay but—," Spencer butted in, "Emily, he's a total sweetheart and he's cute! You two would be the cutest sophomore couple at Rosewood."

Emily tried to think positive thoughts. Alison and Spencer were the two Emily trusted the most. Alison seemed to know just about everything and Spencer did know just about everything, and they both wanted her to talk to Ben so it couldn't be that bad, right? Maybe she just wasn't seeing what they were seeing yet.

With the alcohol still flooding her blood, Emily quickly talked herself into it, "okay, I'll talk to him." Alison smiled and Spencer clapped. "Want me to go with you?" Alison offered, "I can be your wing woman." Emily shook her head. She would feel way more nervous if Alison was there rather than doing it alone. Alison always made her nervous. The thought of flirting in front of Alison scared Emily half to death.

"I can do it alone," Emily replied, not so confident. "Are you sure?" Spencer asked, "I could go if you're nervous." Emily shook her head yet again, "no, it's okay. I've got it."

Emily took a daring step alone without her friends towards Ben. She had better do it now while she had the confidence before it all slipped away faster than it arrived. The brunette didn't look back once as she approached Ben. She _was_ nervous, but the buzz she had made her think she would be okay. She hoped at least.

"Hey, Ben," Emily said, standing in front of Ben and her other two teammates. Ben looked at Emily with a surprised smile, "Emily, hey. What's up? I'm surprised to see you out."

Alison watched in the distance how Emily went and talked to Ben. The blonde was truly surprised at her courage. Emily was always so timid and nervous but gone was that girl and there was a bold one.

The conversation between Ben and Emily had seemed to flow so naturally. Alison couldn't bring her eyes away. Emily looked like she was having a decent time talking to Ben. Alison should have been happy for Emily, but instead she felt a weird, negative pull.

Alison figured she was just being too protective over the brunette. She didn't want to see Emily get hurt, especially by the first person that she could show real interest in. The blonde watched as Emily laughed and Ben smiled. Wow. They _really_ did seem to be connecting.

Alison frowned. Usually Alison was the only one who could make Emily smile the way she was now. When Emily's dimple showed, it was usually just reserved for Alison, but as Alison watched Emily's dimple appear in her cheek, the blonde couldn't help but to feel a bit jealous. Alison was so used to Emily being practically all hers. What if she loses Emily to Ben? What if she just lost her best friend's attention to some guy on the swim team?

Alison started walking forward to head towards Emily and Ben when a hand grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?" Spencer asked, pulling Alison back, "don't interrupt them. That's our code remember? Only if she starts coughing do we interrupt them. She looks like she's having a great time."

Alison wanted to roll her eyes. The code that the five girls had made up was when one of them was talking to a guy alone, if they started coughing, it was a sign of "send help, this guy is awful." It had been used a few times by each girl but Hanna and Emily, mainly because those were the two to never talk to guys alone.

Spencer let go of Alison's arm as she saw Aria walk by with Noel. Aria gave Alison and Spencer a huge grin as Noel was holding her hand and walking her through the house. "Where do you think they're going?" Spencer laughed. Alison hadn't even seen Aria and Noel walk by because she was too busy with her gaze fixed on Emily and Ben. How long was she going to talk to him?!

"I need a drink," Alison stated, walking towards the kitchen with Spencer following behind of her.

#####

"Thanks for the ride, Noel," Aria smiled, leaning into Noel's driver's side window. Alison, Spencer, Emily and Hanna were walking to Spencer's door to get inside. "No problem," Noel replied. Aria leaned more into the window to kiss Noel goodnight before leaving to enter Spencer's house.

When the girls got inside, Spencer locked the door behind them. It was just after midnight, so Spencer was coming home just after her curfew. "Who's sleeping in the guest room tonight?" the brunette asked as the girls quietly made their way up Spencer's steps.

"Definitely me," Alison replied first, "you know I need to sleep in a bed." Aria grabbed Spencer's arm and Spencer nodded. Usually Spencer and Aria always slept together, Emily and Alison slept together, and Hanna would either crash on a couch, or wiggle herself in with one of the duos.

"Hanna you are _not_ sleeping with me tonight," Alison commented, "I am not having you keep me up all night talking about Sean. You can sleep with Emily and listen to her talk about _Ben_." Emily darted her dark eyes to Alison. Why did she say Ben's name like _that_? Like it was poison? And was Alison drunk?

"I wanted to sleep in a bed tonight," Emily pouted. "Yeah, Ali, why don't you give me and Em the bed and you can sleep on the couch," Hanna remarked. The girls filed into Spencer's room. Spencer could tell that Alison was a bit tipsy. She had been with the blonde as she downed two cups of a strong mixed drink.

"I can make you a pallet on my floor Han and listen to you and Aria talk to me about the two new boys in your life," Spencer offered, "it's not like I have an exciting hot romance. I can live vicariously through you two." Hanna and Aria laughed as Spencer pulled out blankets and extra pillows from her closet.

Alison picked up her small travel bag to leave, "are you coming, Em? Or are you staying to talk about your exciting hot romance, too?" Emily didn't understand why Alison was acting so weird, but she grabbed her bag and followed the blonde anyway.

"Goodnight," Emily said to the three girls left in Spencer's room. "Hey, Em?" Hanna asked quickly, grabbing Emily's attention for a second before she left. Emily looked at Hanna and waited for a continuation. "Don't let her bring you down. You deserve to be really happy and excited about your first crush," Hanna smiled. Emily returned a smile to Hanna.

The blonde always knew what to say to Emily if no one else did. Hanna seemed air headed sometimes, but if you around her enough, you'd see that she was much more intelligent than she seemed on the surface.

Emily walked out of Spencer's room to go next door to the guest room. When she walked in her mouth dropped in surprise as her eyes fell on a bare backed Alison. The blonde was turned away from Emily, shirtless. Emily's eyes ran over Alison's sun kissed skin as the blonde reached up to slid a shirt down her arms, falling down her body.

Emily's mouth shut once Alison's t-shirt was on and she was covered up. The blonde turned around to see Emily standing in the door frame, "are you coming in?" Emily walked in the door and shut it behind of her, locking it.

Silently Emily changed into cotton shorts and a tank top for bed. Emily's mind was fixed on how the blonde wasn't wearing a bra and how short her shorts were. Alison was so confident with her body, and rightfully so. She had such a great body. She was so unflawed in each and every place. Emily could only dream to be that sure of herself one day.

The mood in the room was so strange. Usually Alison would be running her mouth a mile a minute about her night and how one girl's dress was hideous or how a guy hit on her and all she wanted to do was run but tonight the blonde stayed silent.

Emily slipped into bed with Alison and faced the opposite way from the blonde. Things were so _weird._

"Do you like him?" Alison finally said, breaking the silence in the room. Emily turned her body towards Alison to look at her, "it was nice. He wants to go to a movie in a few days. We exchanged numbers."

Alison turned towards Emily in the bed now, "are you going to go out with him?" Emily brought her eyes to Alison's. There was something uneasy resting in the blonde's eyes. Emily hadn't seen it before. She tried to ignore it and keep the conversation going. Maybe she was just acting like this because she was tipsy. "Should I? I mean, it's okay, right? Like just going to a movie?" Emily asked. Alison narrowed her blue eyes at the brunette, "if you like him, go for it." Alison's voice was flat with no support at all.

Emily didn't reply, she just broke her eye contact with Alison. She didn't know how to handle her at the moment. She was acting so different. Something was definitely off with her. Emily brought her eyes back to Alison and opened her mouth to say something when her mouth went dry. Alison was looking back at Emily with a look that made Emily's stomach pull in _that_ way again. That happy feeling that felt good.

The way Alison was looking at Emily made the brunette's hair on the back of her neck stand up. Alison was so focused on Emily, her eyes big and round with her pupils so small that Emily was looking back into nothing but blue. Alison's gaze wasn't hard like it had been earlier. It was calm and Emily could have sworn it was needing. Like Alison needed Emily to say or do something. Like she was waiting for something.

Alison's eyes dropped down to Emily's lips. Emily had great lips. They looked so soft. Alison wondered if Ben noticed Emily's lips. What if Ben _kissed_ those lips?

The blonde brought her eyes back up to Emily's, "did you kiss him?" Emily was so caught off guard by the question she almost didn't respond. "No, we just talked," the brunette quietly replied. Emily hadn't even had her first kiss yet. She was the only one out of all of her friends who hadn't.

Her brown eyes took in Alison again. Emily wondered about Alison's first kiss. She was twelve and she kissed the hottest guy in seventh grade. His name was Ryan and he was so beautiful. Every girl drooled over him the way guys drool over Alison. Ryan and Alison even dated for a while before Ryan moved away in eighth grade.

Emily wondered how Ryan kissed Alison. Was it slow and sweet or hot and steamy? Did Alison like it or was it sloppy? Emily couldn't help but to wonder how Alison kissed him back. The blonde was probably a great kisser. Alison was so good with guys. She was so good at everything. Kissing Alison was probably the best kiss of his life, even now.

"You still haven't kissed anyone have you?" Alison asked, her voice more delicate now. Emily was shocked yet again by Alison's question. "No," Emily answered in a small voice. The brunette was truthfully embarrassed about being the only one of her friends who hadn't kissed anyone yet. It made her feel like she wasn't good enough, like no one could like her.

The room filled with empty silence again. Alison kept tipsy eyes on Emily as the brunette looked back at the blonde. Emily's buzz had started to wear off, but Alison's was still lingering. The feeling in Alison's body was almost electric and whatever this tension was between the two girls only made it feel stronger.

"Do you want Ben to be your first kiss?" Alison asked curiously. "I-I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. Should he be?" Emily replied, her brown eyes now nervous. Thinking about kissing Ben didn't give her butterflies, it gave her a quick dose of panic. She hadn't even thought about kissing Ben. She just liked hanging out with him.

"Your first kiss should be with someone who's important to you, Em. Someone who makes you happy," Alison started, "I want your first kiss to be special." Emily tucked a strand of dark hair behind her own ear. _Was_ Ben special enough to be her first kiss? She really didn't even like Ben like that. And Ben didn't really make her happy, he was just cool to talk to.

"I don't know anyone that makes me happy," Emily shyly said. The brunette felt like such a loser. Alison had already had her first kiss and kissed multiple boys. She was a pro and Emily was such a rookie. "I don't even know if I know how to kiss," Emily admitted with a frown.

A small laugh escaped Alison's mouth, "you're so cute sometimes." Emily returned a laugh in response, reaching out and playfully nudging Alison's shoulder, "it's not funny!" Alison giggled harder, "it is pretty funny." Emily laughed and scooted closer to Alison, pushing herself up as she pushed the blonde's shoulder again, "shut up!"

A smirk wiped across Alison's lips, "make me." Suddenly the mood in the room changed drastically. Emily felt that feeling pull again in a funny place between her legs. Emily was so close to Alison that she could see her freckles on her nose. The blonde's smirk slowly fell as her eyes looked down at Emily's lips.

"Em?," Alison nearly whispered. The brunette stayed in place, she was too struck to move. "Can I be your first kiss?," Alison asked, the words dripping from her drunken mouth. Emily's body felt like it caught fire.

Alison was so gentle with Emily. She usually didn't care about other people's feelings, but God Emily made her so soft and full of emotion. It took the blonde a few seconds to realize what exactly she just said. All at once _Alison_ became nervous, which is something she never was. The blonde started to try to defend herself, "I just don't want y-you to kiss someone and not be ready or not know how to," Alison stuttered. Her blue eyes were dancing frantically between Emily's brown one's, looking for the brunette to respond.

Alison was just being a good friend, right? Just was just looking out for Emily so that when Emily does kiss Ben it can be good.. I mean that would be her first true real kiss, wouldn't it, with Ben? Alison tried to convince herself over and over again that she was just doing this for Emily, but for some reason she couldn't even buy her own pitch.

Emily's head was spinning. Alison DiLaurentis just offered to kiss her as her _first_ kiss. Emily didn't understand why she was so happy or _what_ that feeling between her legs was, but all she could do was nod her head. "Y-yeah," Emily finally replied.

Alison reached up with one hand and cupped Emily's face. "It's simple," the blonde softly stated. "I'm going to bring your face to mine, close my eyes, and kiss you. The rest should come naturally, okay?" Alison said, her eyes filled with such love as she looked at Emily.

Emily could only nod, she didn't trust herself to speak. Alison slowly pulled Emily's face down to hers. The blonde closed her eyes and less than a second later her lips met soft skin.

 _Oh my God._ The brunette had _never_ felt this feeling before. This was powerful. This was something. This was _everything_.

Emily's hand went on autopilot as it found Alison's hip. The brunette was leaning over the blonde, her lips pressed against Alison's. Emily was so lost in the moment that she didn't notice how Alison's other hand had found her own hip until the blonde's fingers made contact with Emily's bare skin.

Alison was right, this was so natural. Emily moved her lips against Alison's with such grace that Emily could have sworn she was made to kiss Alison. The brunette could taste a bit of alcohol on Alison's lips, but she didn't care. This was by far Emily's favorite moment of her entire life. She was sure that this was the moment she became alive and truly started living.

Alison knew that she should have broken the kiss, that she completed her goal, but she couldn't. Not when Emily was _so_ good and felt even better. This was different than kissing a boy. The boys Alison kissed either kissed too hard or were too sloppy. But Emily was perfect, even on her first try.

Emily pulled her head back for one second to reposition her arm when Alison leaned forward and followed the brunette's lips. The momentum changed. Alison was now leaning forward as Emily was leaning back and the brunette laid back on the bed now as Alison leaned over her.

The blonde picked herself up as Emily's hands pulled Alison closer to her. Without realizing it, Emily was pulling Alison on top of her. The blonde absentmindedly followed Emily's lead. Alison shifted one leg over Emily's center and placed her hands on both sides of the brunette's face. Emily's hands rested on Alison's hips as the brunette melted her lips with Alison's over and over again.

If kissing felt this good, Emily never wanted to go a day in her life without kissing someone ever again. Alison quickly pulled her lips from Emily's when she heard a knock on the door. The blonde scrambled off of Emily and onto the other side of the bed when the door cracked open, reveling Hanna with a bag of crunchy Cheetos in her hand.

"Are you two asleep?" Hanna whispered into the room. Alison was still trying to catch her breath so Emily shakily took over, "uh, no, Han, we're up." Hanna opened the door fully and smiled, "great because none of us can sleep and we're about to pop in a movie downstairs in Spencer's room. Wanna join? It's Mean Girls and Spencer is making salsa for her chips!"

The brunette let out a breath of air as she was trying to catch her own breath. She had just made out with Alison for at least a solid minute and talking right after being interrupted was way harder than it should have been. Emily forced a smile, "y-yeah, we'll be down in a minute."

Hanna shut the door and Alison stayed quite as she heard Hanna's footsteps make her way down the stairs. The blonde was almost too scared to even look at Emily. What in the hell had just gotten into her?

"Ali, I—,"

"That was great practice, Em. You're going to be just fine with Ben," Alison quickly cut in. A disappointed look splattered across of Emily's face. And for some reason it stung Alison to even see it.

Emily didn't say another word. Alison watched Emily as the brunette collected herself from the bed and threw on a t-shirt to cover up more to head downstairs. Somehow Emily managed to look perfect. Her dark hair didn't have a strand out of place even after she and Alison had just literally rolled around in bed. Alison was in awe at Emily's natural beauty. Even the way the moonlight reflected off of the tan girl made her look so angelic.

Alison tore her eyes away from Emily. She had to stop. Whatever was going on had to end. Alison DiLaurentis was _not_ soft, nor did she think anyone was as beautiful as she was. I mean, she was Alison. The Alison.

The blonde pulled herself out of bed and quickly looked in the mirror on the wall to catch her reflection. Alison truly was just about perfect. She looked just as flawless as Emily did rolling out of bed. The blonde tossed her curls back and looked at Emily, but the brunette was already gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Emily laid back against the couch. Her brown eyes were fixed on the TV screen, but she wasn't really watching the movie. All the brunette could think about was Alison. Alison _kissed_ Emily. The blonde was Emily's first kiss and it was everything and more that the brunette could have imagined it to be.

She knows that Alison was just doing to so that she knew how to kiss Ben, but it was so electric. If practice felt like that, what would the _real thing_ feel like? Alison kissed Emily with such passion, the brunette couldn't process how it could've been just practice. Or maybe it was. Maybe Alison was just that good of a kisser and Emily was overreacting. Alison did have the power to make you believe you were more than what you were.

Every time Emily thought about what had just happened, she couldn't help but to touch her lips with her fingertips. She could still feel Alison's lips pressing hard against hers. Or how Alison's hands felt on her body… or God how the blonde rolled on top of Emily. That familiar funny feeling danced between her legs again as her stomach pulled. What _was_ that?!

"How awesome would it be if we made a Burn Book?" Hanna laughed, popping a handful of Cheetos into her mouth. "Han! That's mean!" Aria replied, slightly in shock that Hanna suggested such a thing. Typically it would be Alison who would make a comment like that. But Hanna probably didn't understand the meaning of the Burn Book, only how funny it was to the girls on the screen. Hanna shrugged, "it'd only be our secret. Right, Ali? Like we wouldn't tell or show anyone else, just us five and all the secrets in Rosewood."

"Do you even _know_ any secrets?" Alison asked, raising her blonde eyebrow. Hanna frowned in thought and then smiled, "no.. well, yeah.. kinda. I know that Lucas Gottesman once peed on himself in the middle of gym class last year because he was the only freshman boy in a game of dodgeball and he was scared," Hanna said.

"Ew, Hanna. Keep that secret to yourself," Spencer laughed from the other side of her couch, playfully shoving Hanna. "That's not even a secret," Alison rolled her eyes, "everyone knew about that like five minutes after it happened." Hanna crossed her arms, "well then you what do you have?"

Alison smirked, "I know tons of secrets. I know so many that I would probably need my own Burn Book individually from you guys. I know _everyone's_ secret."

"Why is that so easy for me to believe?" Spencer replied, lowering the volume on the movie so that her friends could all hear each other better.

All of the girls knew that Alison was probably telling the truth. The blonde knew everything somehow. Alison was like a walking book of secrets. Everyone either told her something or some way she found it out. Telling Alison a secret was so easy to do. Most people did it because they wanted to feel important and special to Alison. It was like if you told her, she would like you more. And _everyone_ wanted to be liked by the teenage queen bee.

The girls did it because they could never say no to Alison if she asked about something or somehow Alison would figure it out. It just so happened that if the girls didn't tell Alison their secret, the blonde would literally run into it. Like when Alison caught Spencer kissing her sister's boyfriend, Ian a couple of months ago when Alison cut through her backyard to get to Spencer's barn. Alison saw the two lip locked with Ian's hands around Spencer's waist from behind, showing her a little more than just a few lacrosse tricks.

Or when Alison and Aria were walking home from school last year and caught Aria's dad making out with one of his students in his car parked in a alley. Alison always found out everything even accidentally.

Emily zoned out her friends conversation. No one knew any secrets about Alison, but Emily did. She knew one. The swimmer thought how earlier today she caught Alison kissing Ian with his large hands grabbing desperately at her tiny body. A sick feeling swept across of Emily's body at just the thought of it. The brunette pushed the vision out of her head as she flashed her eyes to Alison. Her body caught fire when she saw that Alison was looking directly back at her.

Emily quickly looked away. Looking at Alison too long always made Emily nervous when the blonde was looking back. Especially now after the kiss. What was going to happen now? Would they just pretend it never happened? Because Emily wasn't so sure she could do that.

Emily could still feel Alison's gaze burning her body so the brunette stood up. She needed to get out of the room even if it was just for a minute or two. "Does anyone want anything from the kitchen? I'm going to get a glass of water." Much to Emily's dismay, Alison stood, "yeah, I'll go with you."

The brunette felt nervous. Why couldn't Alison just let Emily bring her something back? Emily has two hands, she can do it alone!

Emily and Alison made their way over to Spencer's open kitchen. Because of the way Spencer's first floor of her house was designed, Emily and Alison were still publicly noticeable to the rest of the girls. For some reason that made Emily feel a bit better. At least she wasn't alone with Alison again.

Alison reached for two glasses in a cup drawer above the counter, stretching up to get it. The blonde stood on her toes, but she couldn't reach the top completely. Emily watched and released a small chuckle, "do you want me to get that for you?" The brunette moved before she received an answer. Without thinking twice about it, Emily took a step up to Alison's body and reached from behind her as she easily grabbed two cups.

Emily didn't notice her close proximity until she brought her arm down to set the glasses on the counter and Alison turned around to face her. Emily's breath hitched. She was less than two inches from Alison's face and she basically had Alison trapped between her arms against the counter.

Alison looked down at Emily's lips and back up to her chocolate eyes. Emily was so close to Alison that the blonde lost focus of everything else. Being this close to Emily rocked Alison in a way that the blonde hadn't completely understood.

Emily stood still, paralyzed from how close she was to Alison. Half of the brunette wanted to run away because she was scared to death. Her heart was almost busting out of her chest and Alison made her insanely nervous, but the other half wanted to continue whatever was going on upstairs almost an hour ago.

Emily knew that she couldn't do that though. It was _just practice_. The brunette got upset with herself for feeling this way. Feeling desperate. She was longing for another kiss with Alison and for whatever feeling it was that Alison gave to her when their lips were pressed together, but Alison would ever kiss her again. Alison probably didn't even feel the same feeling Emily did. All it was, was _practice_. And Emily was just another person who weakly fell for Alison's ways.

Emily pushed herself from the counter, taking her glass to the refrigerator to fill it up with water. Alison released a small breath that she hadn't noticed she was holding as her eyes shut. What in the hell was going on with her right now? The blonde felt like she had just lost so much control and power… to Emily.

Alison flicked her blue eyes to the brunette in confusion. Emily's face was hard and so stern. Emily looked _mad_. Like Alison had just done something horrible to piss her off. It was so rare for the swimmer to look so angry.

The blonde walked over beside of Emily and kept her voice calm and low so that the girls couldn't hear her whisper, "are we okay?" Alison's voice came out a lot weaker than what she meant for it to. It sounded almost pathetic and Alison definitely noticed.

The brunette didn't look at Alison as she replied, pouring her water with a glass pitcher from the Hasting's refrigerator, "why wouldn't we be?" Alison noticed a dash of harshness laced in Emily's voice. What was going on? Was Emily still upset over Ian? "Em, if this is about Ian, I told you I'm not—,"

"I don't care about Ian," Emily cut in, "if you want to see him that's your business. I don't care anymore." The brunette set the water pitcher down and turned on her heel without giving Alison the chance to reply. Alison stood dumbfounded in Spencer's kitchen as she watched Emily return to the living room and plop back down on her sofa chair.

#####

Emily laid on her back on the far side of the bed from Alison. It was almost 3AM and the brunette couldn't fall asleep. After the movie the girls finally started to get sleepy, so they headed back upstairs to their previous spots. Aria, Hanna and Spencer filed back into Spencer's room to get ready for bed as Emily and Alison returned to the Hasting's guest room.

The two girls didn't speak to each other as Emily made an excuse to go to the bathroom and when she got back Alison was already tucked in bed. Emily noticed that it didn't take Alison much longer than ten minutes to fall asleep leaving Emily alone to her thoughts. She tried five different sleeping positions and couldn't doze off. Her mind was keeping her awake.

The swimmer couldn't stop thinking about the way she was feeling. She didn't truly understand what she felt like. She was so angry at Alison.. but why? The blonde hadn't done anything wrong. It was like Emily was mad at Alison for the blonde kissing her but that's what Emily had wanted. But now it wasn't what Emily wanted because Emily wanted more and she knew she couldn't get it. How does that even make sense?

What were those feelings anyway? Why did Emily like Alison's kiss so much? Was it normal? Is kissing your friend and liking it normal? Was kissing a _girl_ normal? Was kissing a girl and liking it normal?

Emily's head spun. She had so many questions swarming her thoughts that she didn't know what to do. Every time that Emily thought about kissing Alison she felt so tingly. And that's why she was so upset with the blonde. Alison made Emily feel something so unexplainable but to Alison it was just another kiss. How is that fair? How can Alison make Emily feel these rush of emotions and for the blonde it was all just…practice?

The brunette's silent thoughts were interrupted when she felt the sheets move. Emily turned her head to see Alison flipping over in her sleep and facing the swimmer. Emily's eyes focused on Alison in the dark room. She could hardly see the blonde, but she could just make out her small figure.

Alison moved again on the bed, this time shifting closer to Emily. The brunette rolled over and faced the opposite direction from Alison. The last thing Emily needed was to be face to face with the girl who was currently wrecking her thoughts.

Emily closed her eyes trying to relax when she felt a hand on her hip. Emily's breathing automatically started to struggle. Alison's hand felt hot on Emily's skin. Within the next second she felt a warm body pressed against hers. Before Emily could process what was exactly happening, Alison was spooning her with her arm thrown around Emily's waist.

Alison nuzzled into Emily, melting her body with the tan girl's. Emily tensed. She always tensed under Alison's touch. After a moment the brunette finally opened her mouth. "Ali, what are you doing?" Emily whispered.

Alison mumbled something inaudible back. It was clear the blonde was more than half asleep. Emily tried to softly shift out of Alison's hold. It's not that Emily didn't enjoy being held by Alison…the problem was that she did. Her heart raced but Emily just knew it was so wrong for more reasons than just one.

When Emily tried to scoot an inch away, Alison tightened her hold on the brunette. "Ali," Emily sighed. "Don't leave me," Alison mumbled back into Emily's neck. She shuddered at Alison's breath on her skin. That feeling pulsed between her legs again. How the hell did Alison do that?

Alison pressed her lips to Emily's low neck, right at the top of her back, mumbling something short Emily couldn't make out. The brunette wished so bad she knew what Alison was sleepily saying.

The blonde removed her lips from Emily's back and settled again. Emily was torn between waking Alison up and moving her or letting her do whatever she was doing now. She knew she should probably wake Alison up. This felt like torture, but it also felt so pleasurable and warm.

Emily surrendered. She couldn't move. Not because she physically couldn't, but because she just didn't want to. Something about Alison made Emily want to give in every single time. And now, Emily didn't care. The brunette couldn't even hold her grudge at the blonde anymore. Not now. Not when Alison had her body pressed against Emily's, so soft and so warm.

Emily felt herself relax in Alison's arms. The brunette let out a small breath when Alison brought her lips back to Emily's back and planted a soft long kiss. It had to be at least ten seconds before the blonde pulled her lips off of Emily's skin and nuzzled her face into the back of Emily.

Emily slowly moved her hand to Alison's, which was resting against Emily's tummy. The brunette rubbed her fingers against Alison's and to Emily's surprise, Alison softly intertwined her fingers with Emily's.

A content smile swept Emily's face. The brunette hadn't even noticed her grin as she closed her eyes and allowed her fingers to grip Alison's. Alison made Emily feel like this was exactly where she was supposed to be, and Emily never wanted to leave.


	5. Chapter 5

Emily's eyes fluttered open a few hours later. Sunlight was peaking through the white curtains in the Hasting's guest room. The brunette flipped herself over to realize that she was alone. Emily was pretty positive she remembered having Alison in bed with her last night…cuddled up to her. It wasn't a dream, right? It felt like a dream, but she was sure it was actually reality.

The brunette reached for her phone on the nightstand. It was already almost noon. She had a few texts from Aria and Hanna about plans for the day. The girls had wanted to go to the pool. It was supposed to be nice and hot at 90 degrees today, which was a perfect August weekend to spend by water. Spencer and Alison's parents were both country club members and had access to its pool.

Emily knew the weather was going to be nice, so she didn't mind going for a swim. It was what she spent most of her time doing away from the girls anyway. The water was where she felt the most confident at. Even though she wasn't exactly going to the pool today to train.

The brunette got out of bed to make her way to the bathroom. She wanted to take a quick shower to wash the alcohol off of her body. Walking in Rosewood's finest country club smelling like illegal underage liquor probably wasn't the best idea.

Emily yawned as she opened the guest bathroom's door. She opened her eyes when she felt warm steam hit her skin and nearly tripped when her eyes settled on the view in front of her. Alison had just stepped out of the shower holding a towel against her body. The towel barely had barely covered her front and the blonde hadn't even wrapped it around herself yet.

"Oh God, Ali! I'm sorry! Why didn't you lock the door!" Emily quickly said, shielding her eyes. Alison chuckled as she continued to nonchalantly dry herself with her towel, "It's not that big of a deal, Em. It's okay. We're both girls."

"I-I'll give you a few minutes," Emily replied, turning to leave a wet Alison to privacy. Emily stopped when a hand tugged her own hand back. "Stay," Alison said, "it's really not a big deal."

Emily forced herself to bring her eyes up to Alison's. If Alison didn't look at it as a big deal, Emily could at least try not to as well. If it was Hanna or Spencer, Emily more than likely wouldn't have cared. The girls changed in front of each other all of the time. They've all seen each other's bare butts plenty of times before, but somehow with Alison this was different. Somehow it wasn't like seeing a naked, dripping wet Aria step out of the shower. Emily would have laughed and thrown a towel at Aria, but with Alison she just felt so jolted.

"Are you coming with us to the pool today?" Alison asked as she turned her back to Emily, wrapping the towel around her lower body as she reached for her second towel. Emily's eyes fixed on Alison's tan bare back and shoulders.

The blonde started to dry her hair with her second towel, quickly rubbing the towel against her head. It was way more memorizing that it should have been. The little freckles on Alison's shoulders were so sexy. Her small arm muscles from lacrosse training were so sexy. Alison was just _so sexy_. How?

"Y-yeah, I am," Emily replied, almost choking on her own words. Emily wanted to slap herself. Why couldn't she be as easy going as Alison? Alison tossed her hair towel into the laundry basket and pulled the towel from her hips up around her torso to cover her body.

The blonde flipped her damp hair over and turned to face Emily with a smile, "good, I can't wait to show you my new bathing suit. It's Victoria's Secret. You'll love it." Emily forced a nervous smile back and tried to make conversation as unawkward as she could, "really?"

"Oh yeah," Alison said with a wink. Emily suddenly felt flustered. She hadn't prepared herself for that wink. And worst of all she couldn't tell if Alison was actually flirting with her or if this was just normal Alison. More than likely it was just normal Alison. The blonde had such a natural flirtatious personality that she could talk to a wall and it could be seductive.

Alison opened the bathroom door to return back to the bedroom, "I left tons of hot water. But don't be too long, okay? We're leaving soon." Emily nodded and reached to shut the door behind of the blonde. She needed to jump in the shower before she exploded.

"And I'll miss you," Alison added, her famously flirtatious smirk appearing on her face. Emily's stomach fluttered as she smiled back at Alison. The blonde turned and walked away as Emily shut the door. The brunette released a sigh and leaned against the closed door. Emily was pretty sure she needed a cold shower right now instead of a hot one.

#####

The girls caught a ride from Spencer's mom to the pool. The second she dropped them off, everyone's attention flocked to the girls. They were basically the clique that ran Rosewood. Alison being Rosewood's "It Girl", Spencer holding the #1 academic seed in Rosewood High, Hanna creating new fashion statements and being the head coordinator all of the school's social events, Aria having the edgy mysterious vibe, and Emily being the top female athlete at Rosewood, the girls practically ran the school from almost every position.

All the guys wanted to date them and all the girls wanted to be their friend. Even as sophomores, they had so much power in their high-end, wealthy town.

Once the girls settled in an area, Alison stripped of her tank top and short and threw on her black Ray Ban sunglasses and laid back on her chair. The girls followed suit and did the same, scanning the pool to see who all was there.

A couple of football guys were there, and some of the girl's volleyball team. Some of the in-crowd, super popular seniors were there as they waved at the group, more than likely noticing Alison more than anyone else.

Emily noticed a senior smiling at the blonde a little too long. She knew exactly who he was. Every girl in Rosewood High School did. They were all in love with him. He was the quarterback of the football team and star pitcher of the baseball team. His name was Derek. Emily was the top female athlete of the school, and Derek was the top male. Not only was he going division one for football, but he was also smart _and_ his parents had money. And on top of that, he was insanely gorgeous.

"He's totally checking you out," Hanna giggled in the chair next to Alison. Emily was on the other side of Alison and rolled her eyes behind her dark Ray Bans. Every guy checked out Alison. And even though this was Derek, she was _Alison_.

The blonde shrugged, "maybe so." Aria, who was on the other side of Hanna, jumped on, "you're not excited about that?! He's like the hottest guy in Rosewood. After Noel of course." Alison shifted in her chair and Emily didn't miss how Alison's abs clenched. "Yeah, he's pretty cute, but I've already been there and done that."

"Wait, what?!" Spencer bolted, leaning across her seat on the other side of Emily to look at Alison, "explain!"

"It's not that big of a deal. I made out with him at a party last year over spring break. He definitely wanted more, but I wasn't feeling that generous," Alison replied. Hanna grinned, "oh my God, how far did he get?!"

"Halfway to second base. I almost let him touch my boobs, but nope," Alison said, flipping her hair. Spencer and Aria laughed. Of course Alison would turn down the hottest guy at school. Most girls would kill to have Derek even look at them.

Emily could feel her annoying jealously spike back up. Why did she care so much that Alison made out with a guy? She knew the blonde had kissed plenty of them, but hearing her talk about it just felt bad.

"Ooo, Em, there's Ben!" Hanna gushed. Alison whipped her head to follow Hanna's eyes. There he was. Ben was in the water with a few of his friends goofing off. "He was loving you last night," Spencer said, her too watching Ben.

Emily felt herself get nervous. Was she supposed to talk to him? Were her friends going to make her talk to him? Did she even want to?

"Let's go over there and see if he talks to you!" Aria suggested, sitting up. "Guys, we just got here. Can we chill first?" Alison snapped, aggression leaking in her voice. Aria fell back against her chair, "geez, you chill first. I just wanted to see Emily talk to her crush."

"You don't even know if Emily likes him," Alison scoffed. "Oh, she definitely likes him," Hanna replied, "right, Em?"

The brunette felt her cheeks redden all over again. She truly didn't know if she did or not. Ben was really nice and she felt comfortable around him. He was funny and easy to talk to, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to actually date him.

"Yeah, I mean, kinda, I guess," Emily replied. "See!" Hanna said. "I approve, he's definitely a cutie, Em," Aria smiled, "if you want to talk to him, I'll go with you."

Alison suddenly stood from her chair and shuffled off. It happened so quick that the other girls hadn't even had the chance to ask her where she was going before she was three steps away from them.

"What's her deal?" Aria asked, her hazel eyes leaving Ben and following Alison. Spencer shrugged, "it's Alison. She always has a deal."

Emily was just as confused as the rest of them were. Alison was fine one minute, and the next she was so pissy. The brunette watched as Alison made her way over to the seniors. And of course, over to Derek.

The senior group took in Alison like she was one of their own. They all adored her. She was like their baby sister. Except minus the fact that all of the senior guys wanted to have sex with her. Emily watched Derek open his arms to Alison. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he pulled her in for a hug.

Emily hated the feeling bubbling in her stomach. She all of a sudden hated Derek. She hated how athletic he was. How muscular and defined he looked. How perfect his shaggy hair fell on his head. She hated him. And she started to hate Alison. Okay… maybe not hate her. But she was getting so angry with her again.

Water splashed from the pool and caught Emily's attention. It was Ben and his friends. Emily's brown eyes focused on Ben. He was pretty attractive. And he was so fun to talk to last night. Maybe Emily could really like him. Maybe she could see herself dating him. Aria was talking to Noel, Hanna was talking to Sean, and Alison just had a swam of guys around.. maybe it was time for Emily to have a guy too.

"I'm going to talk to Ben," Emily said, getting up from her chair, "still want to come?" Aria squealed in excitement, "totally."

Emily and Aria made their way in the pool when Ben noticed the girls. "Hey Emily! Hey Aria!" he shouted, grinning ear to ear. Alison turned her head from a conversation with Derek to see Emily and Aria walking through shallow water to get to Ben.

The blonde's eyebrows formed together. Why was Emily going to talk to him?

Ben reached out to hug both Emily and Aria and Alison watched as they all made conversation. Ben seemed to light up when Emily was around, and for some reason that made Alison was to punch him. She couldn't even explain the feeling herself. His stupid smile made Alison want to slap it right off his face. Why did she ever think hooking Emily up with him was a good idea?! He's not even _that_ cute.

"Alison?" Derek questioned, smiling at the blonde. Alison turned her head back to Derek, "yeah, sorry. I'm completely listening. What happened after Lauren jumped?" Derek continued his story from this past summer, but Alison wasn't actually paying attention. She just nodded and smiled as Derek spoke.

Alison was too busy thinking about Emily and Ben. What if she started dating Ben? What if she had to actually talk to him and be nice to him because he was her best friend's boyfriend? Oh God, what if Emily got a boyfriend?!

Derek finished his story with a laugh and Alison faked one. She needed to stop thinking about Emily. Why did Alison even care about who Emily dated. Ben was popular enough, so it wouldn't hurt their social status. But for some reason it just bothered Alison. Almost has bad as an annoying nat flying around at a cookout.

"Do you want to go to my truck and talk?" Derek asked with a flirtatious smile. Alison knew exactly what Derek wanted. Derek had such a huge thing for Alison and she knew he just wanted to be alone with her so he could kiss her.

Alison smiled back. Maybe kissing Derek would make her stop overreacting right now. She needed to get back on her Alison DiLaurentis vibe anyway. Alison DiLaurentis never got upset over anyone else. And it wasn't starting now.

"Sure," the blonde replied, following Derek to his truck outside of the pool gate. Emily's eyes caught blonde hair as she noticed Alison and Derek walking off. The smile from her lips fell as she realized what Alison was more than likely about to do.

Emily wanted to get out of the water now. All her fun just slipped from her body. "I'm going to get something to drink, I'm thirsty," Emily replied.

"I have some water in a cooler in my friend's car. You won't have to pay concession, want some?" Ben offered, running a hand through his wet hair. "It's okay, I don't mind," Emily replied. Ben shook his head, "no, it's really fine. I don't want you to have to pay two dollars for overpriced water when I can give you some for free."

Aria softly nudged Emily in the water. The brunette looked at the smaller brunette. Aria was giving Emily a look screaming "go!" with her big eyes. Emily returned a smile to Ben, "okay."

The swimmer followed Ben out of the water as the two picked up two towels from the towel stand and walked outside of the pool gate.

"It's such a nice day out today," Ben said. "Yeah, it is. Perfect swimming weather," Emily replied. "If only we got to swim outside," the tall boy laughed. Emily nodded, "I wish! That would be so much fun."

Ben dried himself off as he kept walking to his friend's car, "right?" Emily followed Ben a few more steps until Ben reached a 2014 BMW and opened the trunk to get to a cooler. "Do you want water or a soda?" he asked, opening the Yeti cooler. "Water please," Emily replied.

Ben grabbed two waters from the cooler and handed one to Emily. The brunette took the bottle and unscrewed the top, drinking down the cool liquid. Ben shut the trunk and leaned against the car, "I'm really glad you're here today."

Emily drew the water bottle from her lips, "really?" Ben nodded, "yeah, I think you're kinda awesome." Emily put the top back on the water bottle, "only kinda?" she laughed, gripping her towel around her body.

"Yeah, just kinda," Ben joked, smiling down at Emily. The brunette hadn't noticed how close she was to Ben until she felt his hand softly on her towel. Emily realized she was inches away from his face. And then it really hit her. _She was about to kiss him!_

Ben leaned into Emily and the brunette instantly closed her eyes. She was ready for this. She wanted her first kiss to happen already. Or wait was this her second kiss? Whatever. That kiss didn't count. Ben was the right person to do this with. To be the first real kiss….right?

"Emily!"

The brunette opened her eyes and pulled away from Ben just before his lips pressed against hers. Ben frowned as he opened his eyes too. Emily turned her head to see Alison walking up to her.

"Oh, hey Ben. Sorry, I didn't see you with her, I thought she was alone," Alison commented. Emily studied Alison's smile as Ben made small talk with the blonde. Alison was lying. Emily knew each one of Alison's expressions. The blonde's smile wasn't genuine. Her eyes were cut too much and her dimples weren't even close to showing. And how could Alison have not seen Ben?!

"I'll let you get back to your friends," Ben smiled back at Emily. The brunette looked at Alison and back at Ben. She didn't quite understand what was going on with Alison, but she knew something wasn't right, "okay. Thanks for the water."

"No problem," Ben assured. Alison started walking away, leaving Emily to follow behind of her. Before the two girls got to the gate, Alison pulled Emily behind of the entrance building. Emily looked stunned as she stared at Alison. What was the blonde doing?!

"Were you about to kiss him?" Alison asked, her hand still wrapped loosely around Emily's wrist. "I t-think so, why?" Emily questioned. "Em, are you sure you want Ben to be your first kiss?" Alison asked again.

Emily looked at Alison with a world of confusion, "Ali, you're the one who put me onto him. What's wrong with him?" The blonde shook her head and let go of Emily's wrist, "nothing. I just—I want you to be happy with your first kiss. I want you to be ready."

Emily tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "you already taught me how to be ready, remember?" Alison quickly looked down at Emily's lips, "do _you_?"

The brunette felt a wave of _something_ run through her body. Of course she remembers. God, how could she not? "Yeah," Emily softly replied back, "why?" Alison stood still as her blue eyes were flaming looking at Emily's, "are you sure?"

Emily was starting to get a little frustrated, what was Alison's motive here? "Yes, Alison. Why?"

"Show me," Alison replied. Emily looked back and forth between Alison's eyes. She could see conflict swirling in depth of blue. It was like Alison was trying to decide something.

Emily's nerves were shot. What was she supposed to do? How was she supposed to show Alison? Why did Alison make her so nervous? Why did she make her body feel electric? And how?

Alison took a small step towards Emily and leaned up. Emily's eyes naturally fell shut as she felt Alison's lips upon her own. _Oh God_. This was the feeling Emily had been craving for hours. Alison's hands found Emily's waist as the brunette was backed into the wall of the building.

Emily reached up to cup the blonde's face. This felt so nice. Alison felt so nice. Emily's thumb softly glided over Alison's cheek as she kept her lips pressed against the blonde's. Alison's hands tightened at Emily's waist. She pressed her body closer to Emily's, making a moan slip from the brunette's mouth.

A funny feeling jolted between Alison's legs when Emily moaned in her mouth. Alison knew that feeling. Emily had just made her aroused. Alison thought about fighting the feeling. She thought about pushing herself off of Emily but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Not when no one could see them and this was only their thing to know about.

The blonde's hands tugged at Emily's towel, pulling the fabric away from Emily's body. Alison dropped the towel on the grass and clutched her hands back at Emily's waist, this time at bare skin.

Emily kept one hand cupping Alison's face and brought the other to the back of Alison's head, losing her fingers in blonde hair. Alison's lips were so soft. Her hair was so soft. The kiss was making Emily so lightheaded.

Emily felt Alison's tongue graze her bottom lip and without questioning it the brunette met her own tongue with Alison's. Emily could have melted at Alison's taste. How was everything about this girl so perfect?

Alison ran her hands over Emily's defined stomach. Swimming and training had down the brunette so well. Emily's muscles flinched under Alison's fingertips, but relaxed as she quickly adapted to the feeling of the contact.

Alison's hand started to absentmindedly make its way up Emily's body to the bottom of the brunette's swimming top. The blonde slipped a finger under Emily's string on her rib and the brunette shuddered.

Emily's hand tightened in Alison's hair as a second finger made its way under Emily's bathing suit string. Suddenly Alison's thumb rolled on top of Emily's bathing suit over the brunette's nipple, making another moan escape Emily's mouth.

Alison wanted so much more. The blonde became so hungry for the innocent girl in her hands. Alison was just about to slip her hand under Emily's top when she heard a laugh boom from the entrance one the other side of the building.

The blonde quickly pulled herself from Emily. Both girls were out of breath when they stopped. Emily reached down to get her towel and Alison ran a hand through her blonde hair.

Emily looked at Alison with such passion that it almost burned through Alison's body. At that moment the brunette just didn't care. Her lips were swollen and her head was spinning. Her body hadn't stopped tingling. Before Alison could make an excuse, Emily quickly leaned forward to catch Alison's lips one more time for a slow kiss.

The brunette leaned back and opened her eyes to see Alison with hers still shut. Emily waited for Alison's eyes to open before she spoke.

"That _is_ a real kiss."


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:**

Hey guys, so really quick I want to say thank you all so much for reading/reviewing/following/favoriting this story! I can't tell you enough how awesome you are.

Second I want to say if I don't update so quick, it's because I'm officially in season for my sport! I play college softball so I'm about to be super busy. But trust me, I'm doing my best to make time for writing! (AKA right now before practice, haha)

Thank you again so much :)

#####

Alison laid on the back in the middle of her queen sized bed. Her face had slight sunburn and her hair still damp from her shower. She was exhausted from her day with her friends. It was only almost 8PM on a Saturday night and she swore she could fall asleep any given second if she blinked just a little too long.

The blonde had been in such a weird mood. She was zoned out through much of her day. Her kiss with Emily rattled her. She didn't plan on kissing Emily for a second time, and she especially didn't plan on kissing Emily like _that_.

Alison had never kissed any guy the way she kissed Emily earlier today. She's made out with boys, but she never kissed them with a passion the way she kissed Emily. It stunned the young blonde. The fear had crept closer and closer to Alison as the hours went by. What if she liked kissing a _girl_?

The thought alone terrified Alison. She couldn't like girls. She was Alison. The super popular, teen royalty in Rosewood. Alison was supposed to be a beautiful girl, have gorgeous friends, wear the cutest outfits, and do the coolest things. She was supposed to make good grades and be a captain of her lacrosse and soccer team. And she was supposed to have a prince charming. None of that included having a pretty best friend and secretly making out with her.

No, Alison couldn't be into girls. She liked boys. She liked boys attention, and the way they dress, and how hot they look working out in the gym. She liked their ruffled hair and seeing them shirtless at the pool. That all screams straight.

The blonde had kissed a handful of boys. Really hot boys. Only the hottest in Rosewood. From boys in her grade, to boys who were a senior when she was a freshman, a couple of boys in college, and even one guy who was out of college and happened to be her lacrosse coach.

Alison was definitely straight…right? She never even thought about hooking up with other girls before. It never even crossed her mind. She never looked at another girl and felt anything, or had the desire to kiss them. Well, besides Emily. But that was just because she loves Emily and Emily is her best friend. Because she wanted to help Emily make sure that her first kiss with a boy was great…right?

Alison groaned and pushed the idea out of her head. No. She was _not_ gay. Alison DiLaurentis was normal. One—two—silly kisses with your best friend does not make you a _lesbian_. God, no. Why would she be into girls anyway? Boys loved her. They literally drooled over her.

The blonde decided right then that she had to distance herself from Emily. Emily was her best friend and by far her favorite one out of their clique, but right now Emily was causing Alison to lose her feeling of dominance and Alison was in charge of everything.

Alison sat up on her bed. She was supposed to be meeting her friends at Hanna's house in thirty minutes to go to a 9:00 o'clock movie. Alison checked her phone to see the time and noticed multiple texts she had missed in the five girl's group chat.

 _Hanna:_ _Can Sean come to movie night with us? He texted me about hanging out and I just can't say no! Plz!_

 _Aria: Only if Noel can come too!_

 _Spencer: Deal! I can bring Alex. He works at the Country Club. He's super cute. Can't wait for you guys to meet him_

 _Aria: Spence, you have a boy now?!_

 _Spencer: Potentially ;)_

 _Hanna: Em, you should definitely bring Ben!_

 _Emily: I'll ask him and see. Is this a date?!_

 _Aria: Aw, Em! Yes, definitely a big group date_

 _Spencer: Ali?_

 _Hanna: Omg this is going to be so fun!_

 _Aria: Yeah, where is Ali?_

 _Spencer: Idk_

 _Hanna: Ali, who are you going to bring?!_

 _Emily: Ben said he'll come_

 _Aria: Omg!_

 _Hanna: YAY_

 _Spencer: See you guys soon :)_

Annoyance hit Alison faster than a fright-train. Why did the girls decide it was okay to make this a date so short notice?! Who _was_ Alison going to bring?! She wasn't talking to any guys. She only secretly made out with Ian a couple times a week. And clearly she couldn't bring Ian to this.

Alison couldn't show up alone either. Not if all of her friends were bringing cute guys. And new guys at that. But what annoyed Alison the most wasn't even the thought of not having a guy to bring, it was that Ben was going. For some reason he just annoyed the living hell out of the blonde. Now she was going to have to sit through a two hour movie with his big goofy smile pointed at Emily.

Alison didn't even reply back to the numerous texts. Whatever. She lifted herself from her bed to plug in her straightener. She was going to force herself to get through this night.

#####

"This is such a chick-flick, isn't it?" Noel beamed down at Aria. "No…" Aria started, but admitted to her lying after Noel gave her a smile, "okay, maybe just a little."

"They're not that bad," Sean commented, "I think they're kinda good. They're sweet." Hanna nearly gushed as she smiled beside of Sean, "I like them too."

Spencer pulled her phone out of her Dooney and Bourke pocketbook, "where is Alison?" Emily, who was standing beside of Ben shrugged. The brunette had tried to push away any thoughts of Alison since earlier today. Alison confused Emily so much. Their "practicing" had to stop. "I haven't heard from her," Hanna replied. "Me either," Aria commented.

Ben softly nudged Emily, "ready for the movie?" The brunette smiled up at Ben. He _was_ cute. His dark hair was neat and pushed off his face. He wore a light blue Ralph Lauren polo and he smelt of Calvin Klein. Emily loved the smooth scent.

"Yeah, I love Nicholas Sparks movies. They're my favorite," she replied. "So you're a hopeless romantic?" Ben questioned with a smile of his own. Emily softly laughed, "maybe." Ben opened his mouth to reply when Spencer cut them off.

"There she is. Finally." Emily's eyes followed Spencer's as her brown globes fell on Alison. It almost took Emily's breath away. Alison looked flawless. The blonde had her hair straight and she was sporting a white strapless sundress. How was Alison this beautiful?! For a second, Emily didn't even notice the figure behind of her. That was until it reached out and grabbed Alison's hand.

Emily stiffened at Derek. Of course Alison would bring Rosewood's "It" boy as her date. "It's about time we heard from you!" Aria said, "I thought we'd have to send out a search party."

"I was busy," Alison replied. Her blue eyes scanned her friend's dates. "Hi, Noel," Alison stated. Noel returned a smile at Alison, "only you could pull off bringing Mr. Hot Shot here as your date. What's up man?" Noel said, turning to Derek. Noel had known Derek from Noel's older brother Eric playing sports with him. Eric Kahn was the dreamy boy of Rosewood until he graduated, then Derek took over.

Derek let go of Alison's hand to shake Noel's hand to do that hand-shake slash half-hug thing that somehow all boys knew how to do, "that's all you baby Kahn!" Noel and Derek exchanged conversation. Noel was like the baby Derek of Rosewood High School. Once Derek gradated, Noel would fall next in line as the "It" boy.

Alison glanced over at Emily. The brunette was in conversation with Ben, but she looked distracted. "Let's go get our tickets," Spencer stated to the group. Aria and Noel followed behind of Spencer and Alex to the booth. Behind them were Hanna and Sean, who adorably kept giggling at each other's jokes.

Ben and Emily followed Hanna and Sean, which lastly had Alison and Derek behind of the two brunette's. Alison's eyes kept wondering down to Emily and Ben's hands. They were brushing each other's often and each time they touched Alison felt like she could have reach out and pushed Ben away. Why was he so annoying to her?!

After getting the tickets to the movie, the group of ten filed in the theater room and into a seat. Alison almost rolled her blue eyes. Of course she'd end up sitting right beside Emily. As Alison down in the seat between Derek and Emily, the blonde's hand slightly rubbed against Emily's on the arm of the chair.

A jolt ran through Alison's body. "Sorry," she quickly said, sitting down in the cushioned black chair. Emily's soft brown eyes looked almost nervous, "it's okay." Alison made herself comfortable in the chair, trying as hard as she could to keep her body away from Emily's.

"Are you going to cry on me?" Ben asked Emily with that goofy smile Alison hated. "No," Emily chuckled. "It's okay if you do," Ben joked, "I'll make you feel better."

The blonde wanted to throw up. What a horrible pick up line. Emily however laughed. "You might be the one crying instead of me," she replied. "Well then _you_ can make _me_ feel better," Ben grinned. Emily couldn't hold back the laughter at Ben's silliness.

"Shh, you love birds! The movie is about to start!" Hanna whispered on the other side of Ben. Alison was more than ready for the movie date to be over already. Emily and Ben weren't even love birds. They barely know each other.

The lights dimmed and the room darkened as the commercials started to preview before the movie. Alison needed some type of attention. She was so frustrated for some reason. The blonde leaned over to Derek and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Emily turned her head to see Alison's lips on Derek's face. A horrible feeling stirred in her stomach. Was Alison about to make out with Derek already? Emily knew about people from their school going to the movies and making out with their date, but the movie hadn't even started yet!

Emily cleared her throat and Alison pulled off of Derek. He gave Alison a smirk and the blonde winked back at him. Emily watched in the corner of her eye how Derek's hand slid to Alison's knee.

Another swirl of bad hit the brunette's stomach. God, why did she sit beside Alison? This movie needed to end. And now.

#####

A bit over an hour into the movie, Alison caught Ben pretending to yawn as he put his arm around the back of Emily's chair. How pathetic?! The blonde silently scuffed at Ben's action. Such a wuss.

Emily flashed a quick smile at Ben. It was nice…Emily guesses. It wasn't too bad. It was normal. Emily was just being another normal girl on a normal date with a normal guy. The thought of normality made it okay.

Derek was way more into the game on his phone than the actual movie, and Alison was more into the girl beside of her than the actual movie. Not like into-into her. Just into her…right?

Alison needed to talk to Emily. She had barely spoken any words to her. Usually during movies Emily and Alison would always laugh and talk together. And at some point through halfway of the movie, their heads would fall on the other's shoulder. Now it was way over halfway and they have yet to even speak to each other.

Alison leaned over to Emily's ear to whisper. She couldn't resist anymore. "I know this is a bad time, but I'm sorry about earlier today. I didn't mean to interrupt your first kiss."

Emily turned her head to Alison, "it's okay." Alison knew she shouldn't have, but she couldn't stop herself from touching Emily. Especially when Ben's stupid arm was hovering the back of her chair.

The blonde placed a hand on Emily's bare leg, "are you sure?" Emily watched Alison's face as the white and blue lights from the movie shined off of the blonde. Even in the near darkness, Alison was so stunning.

Alison felt Emily jump at the bare contact. It made Alison feel a push of confidence, like her power was coming back. Like maybe she still had Emily's attention even though Ben was right there.

"Yes," Emily replied back. Alison smiled at the brunette. The blonde returned her face back to the movie feeling content. Emily on the other hand was feeling so tingly. For a reason Alison somehow managed to miss. The blonde's hand was still on Emily's thigh.

Emily wanted to say something, but she couldn't. She was speechless. What would she even say?! _Hey, uh, Ali, your hand is still on my thigh._

Emily's body felt so light under Alison's touch. Alison's hand was just resting there on her bare there. It was only until Emily slightly shifted that Alison pulled her hand back realizing that she was still touching the brunette.

Alison thought about apologizing, but as Ben's hand made its way to Emily's shoulder, the blonde refused. No. Emily was _hers_ to touch.

Alison leaned her head down on Emily's shoulder, causing Ben to retract his arm from around the brunette. Alison pulled her head up, pretending not to see Ben's hand in the first place, "oh, I'm sorry Ben!" The boy awkwardly shifted in his chair and forced a smile, "don't worry about it."

A mental smile of victory surfaced in Alison's mind. The blonde flashed her blue eyes to Emily, "if you want Ben's arm around you again, I can sit up." Emily quickly shook her head, "it's okay. We always do this," she smiled.

Alison smiled back as she laid her head on Emily's shoulder again. Alison 1 - Ben 0.


	7. Chapter 8

A few days had passed and unfortunately for Alison, things were staying the way that they had been. Emily and Ben were hanging out more often now, taking Emily away from Alison and the rest of the girls. While Aria, Spencer, and Hanna found it to be adorable, Alison found it repulsing.

What could Emily and Ben have in common anyway? Okay, sure, they were both pretty decent athletes, but Alison was too. Alison had won first team all-conference and first team all-regional in lacrosse last year just as a freshman. Ben had won things too, but he won them as second team, not first.

Alison just didn't understand what Emily saw in Ben. He was just so… _Ben_. Wasn't Alison just as much as a good time? Just as fun? She was _Alison_. Everyone chose her over anyone.

But not today. Again. Not as she watched Emily standing at Ben's locker as the school dismissal bell rang. Alison shut her locker a little too forcefully and let out a frustrated sigh. What the _hell_ was going on?

Spencer titled her head at Alison, noting the blonde's anger fuming from her small body. "Something wrong, Ali?" the brunette questioned, her brown eyes filled with concern for her sassy blonde friend.

"I'm fine," Alison grumbled, rambling around her pocketbook for her cellphone. Spencer shut her locker with ease after grabbing her AP world history textbook. She knew better than to question Alison when she was on edge like this. But Spencer had noticed that Alison had been acting like this for a couple of days now.

Saturday after the movie, Alison went straight home, not going out with the girls to get ice cream, on Sunday she didn't text any of them, and Monday she was way more sassy than her normal self.

"Are you sure? You seem like something has been bothering you lately," Spencer softly stated, not wanting Alison to snap at her just for being concerned. "Spence, I'm fine. I'll see you at practice. I'm going to talk to Ian," Alison replied, quickly turning to strut down the hall towards the locker rooms.

Emily turned her head from Ben to see Alison walking near her. The brunette's heart fluttered a bit in her chest. She hadn't really spoken to Alison since Saturday night at the movies. Emily found herself missing Alison more than she probably should have. Alison was her best friend. She meant the world to Emily. Why were things just so weird between them right now?

When Alison got close enough to Emily, the brunette offered a small smile and wave, "hey, Ali." Alison stopped and shifted her eyes to Emily, then to Ben, then back to Emily, "Hey, Emily, Ben."

"What's up, Alison? How's the lacrosse team looking this year?" Ben asked, smiling his big goofy grin at the blonde. Alison suddenly felt another need to punch him. She just didn't like this kid for some reason. "We're looking great. We'll win another conference title for sure," she replied, forcing a fake smile.

"That's great! Em and I will have to come catch a few games," Ben responded, playfully nudging Emily. Alison watched as Ben's arm wrapped around the middle of Emily's back. Alison clutched her pocketbook tighter, "yeah, well, Em always comes to my games, so."

Emily stiffened in Ben's arms. Usually Emily felt okay with Ben's arm around her, but with Alison standing there it just didn't feel right. It felt awkward.

After a few seconds of awkward silence Alison flipped her curls over her shoulder, "well, I've got to go talk to my coach before practice. Maybe we'll actually hang out again sometime when you have time for me, Em."

As Emily watched Alison continue to start walking the hall again, she felt her blood warm. Why was Alison going to talk to Ian now?! There was almost an whole hour before her practice actually started. Alison said she was going to stay away from him.

Emily's stomach flipped. What if she was going to _see_ him before practice? The thought made Emily feel sick. Before she could stop herself, her feet were following Alison down the hall and into the locker room.

The brunette pushed the door to the locker room open, "Alison?" Emily rounded the corner of the locker room and stopped instantly when her eyes fell on Alison's almost naked body. Alison was out of the dress she was wearing earlier and was just pulling down her black Nike sports bra down her chest. The blonde turned around to face Emily, waiting for Emily to continue.

Emily didn't notice her mouth was parted open until she realized Alison's blue eyes staring back at her with curiosity in a playful twinkle.

"What, Em?"

Emily took a step backwards, "s-sorry. I didn't know you were changing." Alison grabbed her blue nike practice shorts from the bench and slipped them up her legs. Emily couldn't help but to notice how Alison's ab muscles clenched.

"It's a locker room, Emily. What else would I be doing?" the blonde chuckled. Emily felt her face flush red. Of course she'd make herself look stupid in front of Alison. "You said you were going to talk to—I thought you were—never mind," Emily stuttered.

The brunette turned around to exit the room when Alison spoke, "Emily, wait." The brunette closed her eyes and let out a small sigh before opening them and turning back around to face Alison. Who for some reason was _still_ tauntingly shirtless.

Emily focused her eyes to concentrate her eyes on Alison's face, waiting for the blonde to continue. "I told you that I wasn't going to see Ian like that again," Alison said, putting her socks on.

"I know," Emily replied. Alison raised an eyebrow, "did you not believe me?" Emily felt her face get hot again. "It's not that, I just—I didn't know."

Alison stood straight back up again, reaching to pull her hair up in a ponytail. Emily watched as Alison's small muscles flexed in her arms and abs again, making that stupid funny feeling pull between her legs once more.

Alison brought her hands down to her side after she was finished, "well, I'm not." Emily awkwardly shuffled her feet, "okay."

The blonde looked at Emily, taking her all in. If Emily just knew how beautiful she was, she could have anyone she wanted. Her long dark hair was never out of place, and her features were so soft. Emily was just so stunning.

"I was serious about us hanging out, you know?" Alison questioned, leaning against the lockers on the wall, "I miss you." Emily's lips turned into a small smile, "I miss you too, Ali. Can we hang out tonight? Just the two of us? We can do homework together or watch American Idol."

Alison laughed at Emily's innocence. She was so sweet. Her sweet Emily. "Sure, after practice you can come over. Just the two of us." Emily's smile tugged wider at her lips, "I'll see you then." Alison flashed Emily a smile that the brunette could have sworn was seductive, "can't wait."

#####

Emily petaled home on her bike after swim practice. She was tired, but she couldn't wait to spend the afternoon with Alison. She couldn't remember the last time she and Alison had hung out just alone. Emily loved Spencer, Hanna and Aria, but being alone with Alison was a feeling she couldn't explain. It was just _nice_.

The swimmer biked into her driveway, meeting her mom outside on the porch. As Mrs. Fields gave Emily a warm smile, Emily couldn't help but to notice the gift basket in her mom's arm's. "What's this?" Emily asked, stepping off of her bike.

"We have new neighbors down the street. I was going to take this to them for a welcoming gift. Would you like to come? They have a daughter that looks about the same age as you."

Emily looked down at her phone. She had a few minutes she could kill before meeting up with Alison. "Sure, who are they?"

Mrs. Fields walked down the porch steps, hitting a button on her keys to unlock her car, "the St. Germain's, I believe. They moved here from California." Emily nodded as she got in the car with her mom. California was cool. Maybe the girl is, too.

As Mrs. Fields drove Emily and herself down the street, Emily saw who her mom was talking about. The girl definitely had to be the same age as Emily. Mrs. Fields parked on the side of the road and got out, Emily following suit.

"Hi! I'm Pam Fields," Mrs. Fields greeted, offering her hand out to who appeared to be Mrs. St. Germain. Before Emily could reach her mom, the girl had spoken to Emily. "Hey, I'm Maya," she said, offering her hand out to greet Emily just as Mrs. Fields did to Mrs. St. Germain.

Emily reached her hand out and took Maya's hand, returning a smile to the dark haired girl, "Emily. Will you be going to Rosewood High?" Maya let go of Emily's hand and nodded, "yep! Home of the sharks, right?"

Emily softly laughed, "yeah, go sharks." Maya's brown eyes twinkled a bit as she looked at Emily's. Her eyes caught the logo on Emily's jacket, "you're a swimmer?" Emily nodded, "yeah, I'm training for my sophomore season now."

Maya smiled such a bright smile that made Emily even smile, "I'm a sophomore too! I bet you're really good at swimming. You look so athletic. You have a killer bod." Emily felt her cheeks blush. This new Maya girl was pretty _and_ nice. Emily almost fell at a loss of words.

"I-uh.. thanks," she responded, wanting to kick herself for how dumb she must have sounded stuttering to her new neighbor, and now classmate. Maya flashed another smile to Emily, making Emily's hands nearly sweat. "Maybe you could show me around Rosewood High tomorrow. If that's okay?" Maya asked.

Emily nodded yet again before she could stop herself, "yeah, of course. I can meet you outside your house tomorrow morning and we could walk together to school." Maya nodded her own head in agreement, "sounds like a date to me. 7:30! Don't keep me waiting," the tanned girl winked. Emily watched Maya turn and head back to her house, smiling in the driveway.

#####

Alison opened her door to find a late Emily Fields. "Em, you're late," Alison flatly stated, opening her bedroom door wider for Emily to step in. "I'm sorry! I had to go to my new neighbor's house with my mom. They have a daughter who's in our grade."

Alison could not care less about any new girl. The blonde laid back on her bed, "hmm."

"She seems really nice," Emily gushed, "I think you'd like her." Alison propped herself up on one arm, "maybe." But truth be told, the blonde didn't care at all. She had her group of friends and she wasn't too welcoming to newcomers.

"You so would. She's really sweet and pretty too," Emily said, sitting on Alison's bed. Alison flashed her blue eyes to Emily. Pretty? "What's her name?" the blonde asked, suddenly a bit curious as to _who_ this girl was that Emily was talking up.

"Maya, Maya St. Germain, I think. She moved from California, isn't that cool?" Emily beamed. "California is full a pot-heads and wannabes," Alison snapped, "why are you obsessing over this girl?" Emily heard the heat coming from Alison's tone. Why was she so worked up?

"I'm not, I'm just saying that she seems really cool," Emily defended, shifting an inch from Alison. "Yeah, and so does diving off of a eighty foot cliff into the ocean but you don't see me raving about it."

Emily looked at Alison in confusion. She knew Alison wasn't a big fan of making new friends, but Maya seemed like a nice girl. "Well, I'm showing her around school tomorrow," Emily said a bit sternly. Alison sat up on the bed to face Emily, "what? Why?"

"You could come too if you want," Emily suggested, making an offer for Alison to try to do the right thing. The blonde scoffed, "I already know my way around my school, thanks."

Emily let out a sigh of disappointment. Why did Alison have to be this way towards other people? Alison could be so sweet, but it was rare for anyone to see that side of her.

The blonde could sense Emily's dampened mood. Clearly this _Maya_ girl was important to Emily, for reasons the blonde just couldn't understand. Emily didn't even know this girl. Why was she acting so defensive over her?!

Alison didn't want to fight with Emily though. She had really missed her and God knows she has been ill without having her around lately. The last thing she wanted to do was fight with her. Maybe she could give this Maya girl a chance. Maybe.

"Em?" the blonde softly said, reached her hand out to touch Emily's arm. The brunette looked up from Alison's bed and into blue eyes, waiting for Alison to speak again.

"I'm sorry. I just really miss you and it feels like everyone has been taking you from me. First Ben, now this new girl. I just don't want you to forget about me, that's all."

Emily's eyes softened at Alison, "Ali, I could never forget about you. You're my best friend. No one could ever take me away from you." Alison gripped Emily's hand, giving the brunette a smile she knew Emily loved, "promise?"

"I promise."


	8. Chapter 9

Alison walked through the doors of Rosewood High, heading to her locker with Spencer by her side. Alison and Spencer always rode to school together. Each week the two households would switch duties. One week Mrs. DiLaurentis would drive them, the next Mr. Hastings would.

"I cannot wait to turn sixteen and get my license soon," Spencer said, flipping through her Lily Pulitzer planner in her hand. Spencer was probably the busiest fifteen year old on the planet. If she didn't have her planner, she was lost. Alison didn't respond to Spencer's rambling, her blue eyes were fixed on the sight in front of her. She was pretty positive she had spotted the infamous Maya.

Alison took the moment to study the girl beside of Emily. She was a little shorter than Emily, but still standing taller than Alison. Her hair looked nice, Alison guesses. It was dark and fell straight down her shoulders. And her skin looked so clear and pretty. It actually reminded Alison of Emily's tan skin tone. Unfortunately like Alison had hoped, Maya wasn't ugly at all.

Alison watched as Emily was smiling at Maya, talking to her as she was leaned against the wall in the hallway. Emily looked content. Her brown eyes were calm and there was something different about seeing her with Maya than Alison seeing her with Ben.

With Maya, Emily's smile was bigger, her eyes were brighter, and she was standing _a lot_ more closer. Too close for Alison's liking. Alison watched as Maya laughed at something Emily had said and put her hand on Emily's arm, lingering a few seconds too long. Alison's eyes darkened. Could this girl _not_?

"Hello? Earth to Alison," Spencer said, cutting Alison's one way stare down with Maya. "What?" Alison snapped, darting her ocean eyes from Maya to Spencer. "Whoa, calm down, tiger. What is your deal lately?" Spencer replied, shutting her planner to look Alison directly in the eyes.

"I already told you nothing. Have you met that new girl?" Alison replied, returning her eyes back to Maya and Emily. Spencer followed Alison's stare and shook her head, "no, but apparently Em has. Let's go talk to her."

Before Spencer could fully turn around, Alison reached out and grabbed her arm. What had gotten into her friends?! Spencer was _her_ Spencer. Maya wasn't taking her too!

"Spence, ew, no. We let new people come to us. We're not desperate for friends," Alison said, her eyes still on Maya. Spencer wiggled out of Alison's hold, "Alison, I'm the class president and student government president. Being nice to people, making new students feel welcome.. this kind of stuff is my job."

Spencer turned and took a step in her Jack Rodgers before looking back at Alison, "are you coming?" The blonde pulled out her cellphone of her Michael Kors pocketbook, "I have better things to do." Alison turned from Spencer, walking the opposite way down the hall.

#####

"Maya, you have got to hang out with us more often!" Hanna said, sitting across of the lunch table from her new Californian classmate. "I definitely would. You guys seem so chill. I really like the four of you. Thanks for being so welcoming."

"Well, there's another," Aria replied. "Speaking of her, where is Ali?" Hanna asked. Alison had been completely MIA the entire morning. She was in class with the girls, but during breaks and now at lunch, she wasn't around.

"I don't know," Spencer said, "something's been up with her lately for sure. Does she seem a little off to you guys?" Emily wanted to say yes, but she didn't want to out Alison like that. Emily had noticed that Alison seemed to be more private and snappy lately, but yesterday at Alison's house the blonde was a total sweetheart.

Alison painted Emily's nails and after that she had even given Emily a massage from her back being sore from swimming. They spent the afternoon just hanging out like they used to, listening to music and flipping through magazines and TV channels. Being with Alison was always a good time, no matter what they were doing.

Emily felt her heart feel suddenly half empty. She started to miss Alison again. Emily knows she was just with her last night, but usually Alison is here with them right now. She wasn't used to Alison being so distant from the girls. Where was she?

"She's probably just having boy problems," Hanna accused. "How could Alison have boy problems? She has every guy in this school whipped over her," Aria replied, sticking her straw in her 2% milk carton.

Spencer shrugged, "who knows? But something is definitely off."

Emily's stomach felt weird again. It always did when Alison was being talked about with someone else. Emily didn't really understand why, but just the thought of her with someone without Emily knowing didn't settle right with her. Alison wasn't seeing anyone else, right? She would tell Emily.. right?

"I'm sorry, Ali? Who are you guys talking about?" Maya asked, her brown dark eyes curious. "She's our best friend," Aria replied. "Yeah, usually the five of us are always together, but she's just been more to herself lately. Sometimes she gets like that. I've known her for as long as I can remember," Spencer said.

Hanna tossed around the salad mix on her plate, "I'm surprised you haven't heard of her by now. She's like the walking goddess of Rosewood." Maya shifted in her seat, amused, "is that so?"

Aria nodded, "yeah, she's kind of a big deal around here." Maya chuckled, "let me guess, pretty blonde mean girl who rules the school?"

"That sounds about right," Spencer laughed, "but she's honestly not that bad once you get to know her. She just has very high defensive walls, you know?" Maya took a sip of her Coke, "maybe, but I don't like those type of girls very much. I never got along with the popular teen queens back in California."

Emily shifted in her seat. She knew Maya didn't mean any harm by her statement, but she didn't like the way Maya was already envisioning Alison. Maybe Emily was just being overly protective again of the blonde, but she couldn't help it. She cared about Alison too much.

"She's a one of a kind," Aria said, the other girls agreeing in silence. Maya could tell that Alison was the group's leader. The way they all defended her and talked about her made Maya super curious. Who was this Ali girl?

"So what's there to do on the weekends here in Rosewood? Any hot parties? Any clubs?" Maya smiled, changing the conversation with new four friends. Hanna laughed, "there definitely aren't any clubs. You would have to go to Pittsburgh for that."

"But there are super fun house parties," Aria cut in. "Yeah, Aria would know. Her boyfriend throws half of them," Spencer joked. "He is not my boyfriend yet!" Aria replied, her cheeks blushing pink. "Yet," Spencer pointed out, tossing Maya a wink.

"Oh yeah? When is your _boyfriend_ throwing his next party?" Maya asked, returning a wink to Spencer. "Not my boyfriend! But this Friday night. You should definitely come with us after the football game" Aria said. "Yeah, it will be so fun. You could even come with us to the football game! Ooh, and you could meet Sean!" Hanna beamed. "I'm not too big on sports, but who is Sean?" Maya laughed. The conversation at the table quickly turned to Hanna gushing about Sean, per usual, as Maya looked at Emily who was sitting quietly beside of her.

"Hey, is everything okay? You haven't said much", Maya asked, putting her hand on Emily's thigh under the table. Emily jumped under Maya's touch being caught off guard, "yeah, I'm fine." Emily gave Maya a small smile to convince the raven haired girl. Maya titled her head, "so what boyfriend of yours am I going to meet Friday night at Aria's boyfriend's party?"

Emily shook her head, "that would be Mr. Nobody. I don't have a boyfriend." Maya's lips turned into a small smirk, "is that so?" Maya's eyes stayed focused with Emily's, like she was searching for something in them. "Interesting," Maya finished, turning her head back to the other side of the table, retracting her hand from Emily's leg. Emily didn't miss Maya's tone, and whatever it was.. Emily liked it.

#####

The next two days Alison spent dodging her friends like the plague. But that was a bit difficult. She couldn't avoid Aria in Biology honors, she ran into Hanna at almost every locker break, avoiding Emily in French wasn't going to happen, and she definitely couldn't avoid Spencer at lacrosse practice or in the car to and from school.

Because of all of that, Alison got the memo of her friends going to Noel's party tonight. Since when did the girls make plans without her for the group? And _who_ the hell invited Maya? When Hanna told Alison that the girls invited Maya to Noel's party Alison's head almost popped off. Maya was _not_ a part of their group.

Alison stood frustrated in her closet as she was picking out a pair of shoes. She had spent almost a full week without her friends and they seemed just fine without her. Especially Emily. Emily had basically replaced Alison all within a week. First with Ben, now with Maya. Every time Alison saw Emily at school, she had her new neighbor with her. God, it was like that new girl was a lost puppy. How much more annoying could she get?

Alison was half tempted to not go to the party, but she knew that if she didn't go everyone would question where she was. She had to at least make an appearance. It wasn't a party until Alison arrived.

Alison heard a knock on her door, disrupting her from her thoughts. She hadn't invited anyone over and she wasn't expecting a visitor. The plan was to meet at Spencer's by 9:30 and it was only 9. If Maya was going to be at Spencer's too, Alison decided she wouldn't go next door until 9:29.

Alison shuffled to her door and pulled it open, her temper flaring down as blue eyes met brown. "Hi," Alison said, pulling her door open wider. "Hey," Emily replied, stepping in Alison's room, "I wanted to come by here and see you before we all met at Spencer's."

Alison shut the door behind of Emily, "why is that?" Alison allowed her eyes to rake over the brunette. Emily always looked good even if she wasn't completely dressed up. She wore short jean shorts and a v-neck white t-shirt, sporting brown ankle boots. Her brown dark hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders and down her back. Emily was so stunning and she had no idea.

The brunette grabbed her own hands, "I just miss you, Ali. Where have you been this week?" Alison turned back to her mirror cutting her eyes away from Emily, "I've been busy."

Emily used the opportunity to look at Alison. The blonde was so breathtakingly beautiful. How was one girl so _perfect_?

"Well I wish you would have been around more. I don't like when we don't hang out," Emily honestly replied. Alison's heart nearly fluttered. Emily Fields was such a precious human. Alison was about to respond when she thought about why she had been avoiding Emily. It's not like she wanted to, it was because Emily just had to be around Maya. And Alison wasn't having any part of that.

"You seemed just fine without me and with that Mia girl," Alison hissed, turning back around to face Emily. Okay, so Alison knew Maya's name, she just didn't want to give Emily the satisfaction of acknowledging her existence. Maya was irrelevant to Alison, and it was going to stay that way.

"Maya," Emily corrected, "and she's really nice if you would just give her a chance." Alison flipped her blonde curls over her shoulder, "just because she's your friend doesn't mean she has to be mine. If I wanted to be friends with that, I would."

Emily's eyebrows furrowed, "why do you have to be like this, Ali? Why can't you just be nice?" Alison crossed her arms and spun around, alarmed that Emily was raising her voice at her, "because I don't care, Emily. I don't like her and I don't care about her, and if you're just going to stand and my room and defend her, you can get out."

Emily's mouth dropped at Alison's sharpness. She couldn't remember the last time the blonde was this harsh with her. Alison knew she had probably just been too rough with Emily. Alison knew how sensitive and delicate the brunette was. Regret filed Alison's body. God, she didn't want to argue with Emily, she just wanted her to herself.

Without saying a word, Emily quietly walked to Alison's door, opened it, and shut it behind of her, leaving Alison alone again.

#####

Emily had been so frustrated ever since she left Alison's room. She knows that she was supposed to be having a great time with her friends right now, but she couldn't stop thinking about Alison. All she wanted to do was be with her and hang out with her, but she was so disappointed in the blonde. Why was Alison so mean to other people sometimes? Why couldn't she just be the sweet Ali that Emily got to experience?

But now Emily was at the party watching Alison throw back drinks and talk to everyone in the room _but_ her. Alison was always the life of any party. People wanted to talk to her and be her friend. It was amusing to watch sometimes, but most of the time it just annoyed Emily. Especially when Alison wasn't speaking to her.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Maya asked, sliding up to Emily's side. Emily removed her eyes from Alison and shifted them to Maya. She and Maya had hung out the past two days and Emily had truly enjoyed Maya's company. It was nice to have her around.

"Nothing, just blanked for a minute," Emily replied. Maya handed Emily a cup, "you need a drink." The swimmer took the cup from Maya and took a sip, "you're probably right."

"I know I'm right! Come on, loosen up. We're at a party. My first party in Rosewood. I want you to have fun, I want us to have fun," Maya beamed, taking Emily's hand. Emily froze at Maya grabbing her hand.

This was normal, right? She and Maya were just friends holding hands at a party. It happens all the time.

"Hey! You found her," Emily heard Spencer say, coming up behind of the two. Hanna looked down at Emily's hands and back up at Maya before reaching the girls. The blonde didn't say anything, she just observed, taking a sip of her drink. "I just need air, that's all. What have I missed?" Emily asked.

Aria filled her athletic friend in as Hanna noted Maya and Emily. There was always a part of Hanna that struck something _different_ with Emily. Her beautiful tan friend could have any guy she wanted, but Emily never seemed interested. Granted, Emily was a shy and soft spoken girl, but Hanna just always thought there was something more to it.

What really set Hanna off was Emily's reaction with Alison in the past. Hanna may have seemed like the dense one out of the group, but she had quietly noticed almost everything.

Hanna never failed to catch the way Emily's eyes lingered on Alison or how her smile was wider when the queen bee was around. Hanna had always figured that Alison was Emily's favorite, but as Hanna watched Maya's thumb rub over Emily's hand, the blonde was slowly putting pieces together one by one that confirmed her theories.

"Have you guys missed me?" a voice called out approaching the five girls and making everyone look over at the blonde now standing in front of them. Emily's eyes fell on Alison, quickly noticing that the blonde was a bit tipsy.

"Ali! You're the one that ran off, where'd you go?" Aria said, reaching out to give Alison a quick one armed hug. "Just hanging out, socializing," Alison replied. Her eyes scanned over her friends and her lips pressed hard together when she saw Emily's hand tangled with another. Maya.

Emily shifted uncomfortably when she noted Alison's eyes burning on her linked hand with Maya. The brunette quickly let go of Maya's hand. It didn't feel right again. Just like with Ben, Alison had the same effect on her with Maya too.

Alison posed a fake smile, bringing her blue eyes up to meet Maya's dark brown. Maya didn't flench like most girls would have. In fact, she actually spoke first. "Ali, right? I'm—,"

"Alison," Alison quickly corrected. Alison wasn't going to let this girl call her by her nickname. Maya didn't know Alison.

" _Alison_ ," Maya restated, narrowing her eyes at the blonde, keeping a plastered smile on her face that didn't quite meet her eyes, "I'm Maya." Alison took a sip out of her cup, "hm."

There was a tense quiet few seconds that passed in the group before someone came up to the girls, "we're playing truth or dare!" Alison made the first move, looping her arm around of Spencer's, "let's play." And per usual, the girls, and followed suit.

Maya grabbed Emily's arm as they were walking, "I'm pretty positive your friend doesn't like me." Emily didn't deny it, because well, she knew Alison didn't like Maya. "Just give her a chance, she's—,"

"And I don't like her either," Maya cut, dropping Emily's arm to follow closer behind of Hanna and Aria.

#####

"I'll go," a guy from the football team stated. "Truth or dare, Alison?"

The blonde didn't show any facial expression. She shrugged, "truth." The guy smirked, "is it true that you banged Derek?" A couple of the guys in the circle high-fived each other, grinning at the question. Derek was like a legend at Rosewood, and for some reason guys were just as obsessed with him as they were Alison.

Emily felt herself tense. She didn't think Alison had sex with Derek.. but honestly she didn't really know. The thought of Alison having sex with him made her stomach feel sour. "He wishes, no," Alison replied. Emily felt herself sigh in relief. Thank God.

"Emily Fields."

Oh no. Emily's body tensed up all over again. It was _Alison_ who had said her name. A tipsy Alison. Emily was nervous as to what would come out of the blonde's mouth. "Truth or dare?"

Emily knew she couldn't pick dare. Not with Alison asking the question. Then again answering truth could have been just as bad. Alison was not the girl you wanted to play this game with. It was a lose-lose situation all around.

"Truth," Emily answered. Alison's eyes burned into Emily's as everyone waited to hear the question. "Is it true that you've never had your first kiss?" _Shit._

Emily looked at Hanna, Spencer and Aria. To them, Emily hadn't been kissed. They didn't know that Emily actually had been kissed before. Recently. By the very same girl who had asked the question. What was Alison trying to do?!

"False," Emily answered, keeping her eyes locked in Alison's. Spencer, Hanna, and Aria gasped.

"What!"

"Who?"

"When?!"

Alison watched as the girls sprang a thousand and one questions on Emily, her cheeks flushing red. Alison needed to hear Emily's answer to that question. She didn't know why but she did. And the answer she got.. it made her feel that dangerous pull deep in her stomach. The blonde shifted her eyes to Maya, who was looking directly back at her. The two girls shared a glare that was far from friendly.

Maya tore her eyes from Alison, "okay, I'm bored. Someone dare me something good. Let's make this game interesting."

A junior basketball player who had his eyes on Maya for the night stepped up to offer a dare. He winked at Maya, "I dare you to kiss the hottest person in the circle."

Maya smiled back at the guy. Before anyone could react Maya locked her eyes with Alison as she grabbed Emily's chin and pressed her lips to the swimmer's, closing her eyes. Alison's chest immediately felt hallow as her stomach dropped.

Maya moved her lips along Emily's and hot tears rushed to Alison's eyes. The blonde quickly blinked them back before anyone could see it, and more importantly before Maya let go of Emily's chin and opened her eyes again.

Spencer's and Aria's mouths were both dropped, just as almost everyone's in the circle. The guys had cheered them on for a second round when Hanna watched Alison get up and walk out of the room.

Emily didn't even know how to react or what to do. Her lips felt on fire. She sat dumbfounded before reality struck her that she had just kissed a girl in front of everyone. In front of her friends. In front of Alison.

Emily looked for Alison but her brown eyes fell short. She couldn't find the blonde anywhere. Hanna watched Emily get up from the circle, panicking. Spencer and Aria started to get up when Hanna stopped them, "let her go. She'll be okay. Give her a few minutes."

Hanna flashed her eyes to Maya who was clearly smitten with herself after kissing Emily. Hanna didn't completely understand everything that had just happened, but she was sure that she had a pretty good idea.


	9. Chapter 10

Alison weaved through the crowd like a bullet leaving a gun. Everything hurt. Her chest felt crushed in, her stomach was flipped, and her head was light. It all hurt. Watching Emily kiss Maya was the most painful things that she has ever witnessed. Over and over she replayed the scene in her head and it _hurt_. She had to get away. Away from the game, away from her friends, away from Emily.. away from the truth.

Alison knew the truth in the moment that she saw Maya kiss Emily. The truth that she had been avoiding. The truth she had denied so hard the last few weeks. Alison liked her best friend. She liked a _girl_.

"Ali!" Emily called out a few steps behind Alison. "Alison, please! Wait!"

Alison walked faster. She didn't know how she was managing to move so swiftly in heels while she was tipsy, but she made it look easy. She didn't want to talk to Emily right now. She couldn't. Alison was scared that if she spoke to Emily everything would spill. For the first time it was Alison who was so vulnerable.

"Ali," Emily said again, reaching out a hand to grab Alison's arm. Alison yanked her arm away, but Emily grabbed at it again, this time pulling Alison into a room down the hallway. When the brunette shut and locked the door Alison pulled her arm from Emily for the second time.

"Don't touch me, Emily," Alison hissed, backing away from the brunette. Emily's mud brown eyes were filled with so much conflict. Standing in front of her was her best friend and the one person in the world she had so much genuine love and care for. The girl who made stomach flip and heart race in her chest.

Having Maya around the last few days made Emily think a lot about herself. The swimmer had stayed up the past few nights thinking about having a relationship. She thought about soft kisses and warm cuddles and mushy words. But every time she thought about it, it was never with a guy. It was always with Alison. A few times it was Maya. Emily had thought about what it was like to kiss Maya. She was a very attractive girl and she was definitely _friendly_ with Emily to say the least. But for some reason Emily's thoughts always drifted back to the same blonde.

"Why did you kiss her?" Alison said, breaking Emily's strung out gaze on the blonde. "She kissed me, Ali. I didn't know she—,"

"You kissed her back," Alison said. Emily could have _sworn_ that she heard Alison's voice crack. She was almost positive. Emily took a step closer to Alison who took a step back. "Don't, Emily," Alison warned, putting up her hand.

Emily felt a flush of anger run through her body. Why is Alison so mad? If Alison had a problem with Emily kissing someone else, why doesn't Alison act like she likes Emily? Why did Alison say that their kisses weren't real? Emily was frustrated and confused and so annoyed. What was Alison's deal? What _were_ they?

"What do you expect from me, Alison?! What do you want me to do? First you kiss me, telling me that it was just practice for Ben. Then you interrupt what would have been my first kiss with him and kiss me again. Then you flip out when Maya kisses me. Why are you so mad?" Emily nearly shouted. The brunette's head was hurting. She was so confused it was frustrating her. Alison always confused her so much.

"Forget it, it doesn't matter," Alison said, raising her voice along with Emily. The blonde walked past Emily to get to the door and Emily grabbed Alison's hand, pulling her back, "no, you're going to talk to me Alison."

The blonde turned around and Emily could see the fire in Alison's eyes. Alison looked hurt and angry. Emily didn't miss the tears that were nearly seconds from rolling down the surface of Alison's face.

"Ali?" Emily said, her voice back so calm that it was almost a whisper. She couldn't yell at Alison. Not when the blonde looked like this. Not when her blue eyes were clouded and her pink lips trembled.

"Just let me go, Emily," Alison said, pulling her hand from Emily's. The second Alison's hand left Emily's, the brunette stepped in front of Alison and the door again. It took Emily every ounce of courage in her shy body to do it but she gripped Alison's hips to stabilize the blonde in front of her.

"Alison," Emily whispered again, looking down directly into Alison's eyes. Emily brought her trembling right hand up to Alison's face. Emily had never been more scared than in this moment. Her heart raced. She knew that all it took was for Alison to push her away and give her a look of disgust to break her heart.

Emily's hand landed softly on Alison's cheek, her fingers sliding back allowing her thumb to run across of Alison's pink cheek. Being this close to Alison had Emily's entire body electrified. It literally took Emily's breath away. She had to remember how to _breathe._

"Please look at me," Emily begged, her thumb slowly stroking the blonde's cheek. Alison brought her ocean eyes up to meet Emily's mud brown ones. Emily's chest felt as if it was fluttering. Alison was so beautiful that she seemed unreal. Too unreal for Emily to be touching like this.

This was a rare occasion. She was in control right now, not Alison. Emily knew that this was the moment she had been scared to face. The moment that she ran from. But she knew that this was her one chance. Emily took a deep breath, trying to calm the nerves pulsing through her body.

"I don't like kissing you for practice. I don't like when you do that to me. I don't like when we touch, or when you smile at me, or when you sleep with me at sleepovers," Emily started. Alison's eyes saddened. Her tears built back up as she kept her gaze with Emily.

"I don't like it, because it's torture. I don't want to kiss you for practice. I—I want to kiss you because it's real. When you touch me, it burns because it feels so good but then you go away and I'm left with your fingerprints on me. Your smile sends shockwaves through my body but when I see you smile at someone else I feel like I'm cracking. And when we sleep together… when you're that close to me, I get a feeling I can't explain."

Emily couldn't get a read out of Alison's eyes. She hesitated to continue, but she did. "I know this is wrong because you're my best friend and because we're both girls, I know. And I don't want to lose you as my best friend because this could end so badly, but when I kissed you, I knew I liked girls. And when I kissed Maya, I knew I liked kissing you."

Alison's tears finally broke the surface. Water rolled down her cheek so fast that Emily had only blinked and Alison's face was wet. Emotions ran through the blonde's body. She had never felt more alive. She had never felt anything more than she did right now.

Emily waited for a response from Alison, but one never came. Suddenly Emily's stomach flipped. Everything went wrong. She knew there was a possibility for this to happen. She knew if she admitted her feelings to Alison, the blonde could turn her down. She knew this could break her heart.

Emily let go of Alison's face and hip. She felt like an idiot. How could Alison DiLaurentis like _her_? She was Alison. She could have anyone on the entire planet that she wanted with just a smile and Emily actually thought for a second that Alison would pick her. Emily backed away from Alison. She needed distance.

Emily turned around. She couldn't look at Alison right now. Not when she was about to cry and felt like she could have thrown up. Water rushed to Emily's eyes. God, she was so stupid. This was a horrible mistake. Her hands shook and her legs felt uneasy under her.

"Emily," the brunette heard. She couldn't turn around to face Alison. Not right now. She couldn't. But Emily also couldn't say no to the blonde. No matter how much she didn't want to turn around and look at the girl who just shattered her heart, she did.

The second Emily turned around, she was greeted with soft lips against hers and two arms thrown around her neck. Emily instantly shut her eyes and her hands fell around Alison's waist.

Alison was kissing her.

Emily felt Alison's fingers twisting in her hair. The blonde's lips moved in a perfect sync with Emily's, never missing a beat. Emily gripped Alison's waist harder and pulled the blonde against her body. This kiss was _everything_.

Alison controlled the kiss. When the blonde wanted to kiss harder, Emily followed along, allowing her lips to bruise. When Alison slowed down, Emily melted her lips slowly too. Alison's hands fell to Emily's shoulders as her lips stayed on the brunette's.

The two didn't know how long they kissed or how long they were gone, but they didn't care. They were lost in each other and time no longer existed. Emily was high on the taste of Alison and Alison was hot off of Emily's touch.

Alison slowed her kiss with Emily one last time, pulling her lips away from the swimmer's. Emily immediately sighed at the loss of contact, her eyes still shut. Alison's eyes fluttered open, looking at the beautiful sight in front of her. Emily was flawless. She was out of breath, and Alison's hands had ruffled her hair, and her cheeks were dashed pink.. and she was flawless.

Emily opened her eyes to see Alison looking back at her. The brunette was trying to catch her breath and with Alison looking at her the way she was, it wasn't helping the situation any better.

The blonde slid her hands down Emily's arms and wrapped her arms around Emily's waist. "You give me a feeling I can't explain too," Alison said. Emily's lips broke into a smile the same time Alison's did.

Emily felt like she was in a dream. Like she had just won the lottery. Like Alison DiLaurentis was actually _hers_.

#####

 **Okay guys, don't get upset, but this is probably the end!**

 **I would make this story longer but honestly it would be just dragging it out. the point of this story was the two girls figuring out their feelings for each other.**

 **If I come up with anything else that I could throw at this story, I will update it, but I'm almost certain that this story is completed. \**

 **But don't worry.. I have a new story coming soon.. :)**


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